The End Of Eden
by Bill K
Summary: By the twentyfifth century Crystal Tokyo is a gleaming beacon of peace that the world is following. Life is good. Murder and hatred are archaic concepts. But not everybody is happy in paradise.
1. Desperation's Gambit

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 1: "Desperation's Gambit"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K., based on the writings of Naoko Takeuchi

* * *

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2007 by Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha and Toei Animation and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2007 by Bill K.

* * *

This story refers to events in my previous chapter story "Violence And Corruption".

* * *

Deep within the bowels of the Earth, far beneath the point where any life existed or could possibly exist, a woman sat on a granite throne. Once she had been comely, in a serpentine fashion. But now her thick brown hair was dull and lifeless, her serpent's eyes lined and listless. Her reddish skin was haggard and leathery, and her wiry, womanly figure sagged within the sleeveless green silk dress with twin red dragons embroidered upon the front. The woman stared out ahead of her at nothing, clearly wan and in pain. Her breath was labored. Her energy was gone. Her regal bearing was broken. 

The brush of a foot on the cavern floor caught the woman's flagging attention. She turned with some effort and looked at her visitor. Her visitor, an obsidian creature in the shape of a lithe female, possessing long flowing silver hair and a featureless face save for two glowing eyes, knelt in supplication before the woman on the throne. Her head bowed and her hands extended upward toward the seated woman.

"Oh great Talon Umbra," the creature said with no lips to form speech, "I beseech you! Have you not suffered enough? Will you not take action against your enemies and become again she who is anger and suffering upon the world above?"

A wan smile worked its way onto Talon Umbra's withered face.

"What would you have me do, Tygos, that I have not done already in the four hundred years since my defeat?" she asked. It seemed like responding was a herculean task for her.

"Send me to Earth, My Mother," Tygos pleaded. "I will go there and I will defeat your enemy! I will bring you Queen Serenity's beating heart for you to devour and grow strong upon! I will lay waste to her minions! I will sow bloody vengeance upon the pestilence hole that is Crystal Tokyo for turning away from you and robbing you of your glory! I . . .!"

"Tygos," Talon Umbra exhaled. "Are you so arrogant that you think you may succeed where even I have failed? Serenity destroyed me once, when she was known as Sailor Moon. And now her brilliance has robbed me of the rancor and hatred I grow strong upon. Her influence upon the people of Earth has enriched her even as it has stunted my rebirth." Talon Umbra drew a pained breath. "I fear - - she may win before too long. She has become that powerful. And you think you may slay her where even I could not?"

Tygos looked down in frustration.

"But My Sire, it pains me to see you broken and dying like this! I am your blunt instrument! I am your weapon of chaos and destruction! But I cannot aid your glory if I remain sheathed! Let me strike in your name! Even if your enemy strikes me down, I vow I will not go down lightly! I will exact such a terrible cost before my heart beats its last that your enemy will be weakened and ripe for the picking! Please, My Sire! Let me draw the first blood in your terrible name!"

"It would be a futile gesture," Talon Umbra whispered, her concentration flagging. "No, the wisest course is to wait for an opportunity to seize rather than lash out in blindness and futility."

"And if you wait too long?" Tygos asked.

Talon Umbra looked up to her with fondness and resignation.

"Then I will die the death that knows no resurrection," she whispered. "It will be an interesting experience." The serpentine woman drew in another ragged breath. "This one is not like the others. She has proven to be a formidable opponent. I have come to realize that I could very well lose the eternal battle to her."

She seemed about to say more, but stopped suddenly. Tygos watched in guarded anticipation as Talon Umbra raised a shaky hand to her face. Cupped in the hand was an image from Earth. It was an infant newly born. He was an ordinary human, drab, bent, homely. To Tygos, he seemed even more wretched and loathsome than the rest. But Talon Umbra watched him with keen interest. Tygos felt a presence near her and turned to find her sister, Tenera, by her shoulder.

"You sensed it, too?" Tygos asked Tenera wordlessly, with gestures and body language. Tenera communicated her assent.

"What is it, Mother of us all?" Tenera asked, kneeling before her and bowing in supplication.

"A spark," Talon Umbra said, her concentration fully on the image of the infant in her hand. "A tiny pinpoint that, with the proper nudge, could develop into the opportunity I have waited for."

She studied the child even more intently as he seemed to grow from infant to young boy in her hand, marking the passage of time on Earth, and as she did she began to smile.

"Yes," she hissed with elation and more energy than she'd demonstrated in eons. "This is the seed. Properly nurtured, this seed's branches will someday mean your end, Serenity."

Tygos and Tenera watched her, thrilling to the sight of life in the eyes of their mistress once again.

* * *

On a balcony in the palace of Crystal Tokyo, overlooking the glittering city below, stood Queen Serenity. Night had fallen on this quiet, warm day in early summer. The humidity of summer had temporarily abated, allowing the weather control satellites a day off. The soft breeze of that late June evening wafted over the balcony, lightly tickling the folds of Serenity's floor length white gown and gently moving the twin trails of blonde hair extending down from her head.

The evening was peaceful, as most evenings were now in Crystal Tokyo. The noise of mechanized traffic had been replaced by the quiet hum of crystal fusion power. The shrill light of eons past from the retail districts had been replaced by a muted krypton-argon light process that allowed the stars to shine brilliantly from above. Most importantly, the silent aura of fear and anger that once permeated the nighttime was gone. Few were old enough to remember when Crystal Tokyo was anything but a paradise of goodwill. Among those who did were the Royal Family and their court, the Sailor Senshi. But it was through their work and good graces, Queen Serenity's most of all, that Crystal Tokyo knew the peace and freedom from avarice, hatred and want that they now had.

As dusk fell completely and turned into night, cheers and singing rose up from the city. Serenity heard it, distantly, but paid it no attention. Instead, she gazed up at the stars longingly.

From behind her, a girl entered the room connected with the balcony. She was eleven, two years from blooming into the first glimpse of womanhood. The child had long, straight,silken black hair, a face that one might almost describe as somber, and the largest, most sensitive brown eyes ever seen on a child. Bangs fell haphazardly into the eyes and over her forehead. She wore a breathable polymer blouse of blue with black synthetic cotton jeans. Spying the Queen on the balcony, the child walked over.

"You don't seem to be having a very happy birthday, Usagi-Mama," the child said. Serenity turned from her star gazing to the child. The monarch tried to force a smile onto her face, but as usual proved to be a terrible actress. "Didn't you like your presents?"

"Oh, Yoko-chan," Serenity sighed, bending down to the girl who was even now nearly as tall as she was and hugging her. "I liked my presents fine - - especially the one you gave me. And at my age, I've seen so much that the thought is more important than the gift anyway. After all, I am - - um, four hundred and twelve."

"Four eighteen," Yoko corrected with a malicious smile.

"You don't have to be so smart," Usagi replied, giving her a playful pout. The pout faded, though, into melancholy. "I guess I'm just - - I don't know."

"You were hoping Aunt Michiru and Uncle Haruka would be here," Yoko surmised. "I kind of wish they'd come, too."

The pair looked up at the heavens together.

"Why did they have to go?" Yoko asked.

"Because exploration of space has given us many wonderful contacts with other planets and other peoples," explained Serenity. "And it's given us many scientific breakthroughs. And since they don't age, Haruka and Michiru felt they were best suited for long-range missions. It was only logical. That's what your Aunt Ami told me and I learned long ago to trust your Aunt Ami."

Yoko had heard this explanation before, but it didn't make any more sense now than it had in the past.

"And," Serenity continued, some emotion creeping into her voice, "they felt they couldn't turn away from the challenge. They felt there was nothing left for them to accomplish on Earth. The decades of peace, here in Japan and around the world, left them with nothing to strive against - - nothing to defeat." She sighed, trying to remain upbeat. "Peace is a wonderful thing, Yoko-chan, don't ever think otherwise. But to some people, too much peace is a slow death. I wanted them to stay, but they wanted something else - - and we have to respect that."

"Even if it hurts other people?" Yoko asked. Serenity looked down at her inquiringly. "Like you."

"Oh, Yoko-chan," Serenity misted up. "It's not that big of a hurt. As long as I've got you and your brothers and sisters and Endymion, I'll be fine. Plus I've got your aunts and a whole city full of people to love. We can spare Haruka and Michiru to follow their passions. I'm just being selfish."

She caught the girl's hand and turned back to the balcony door.

"Come on," Serenity told her. "That's enough wishing for tonight. Let's go back inside. I think there's still some of my birthday cake left."

"Mama, you had three pieces," Yoko sighed in exasperation.

"I'm sorry I ever taught you how to count now," Serenity fussed.

"Actually, Aunt Ami taught me how to count," Yoko replied.

The icy glare she received from her step-mother served after a few moments to melt Yoko's confident smirk. The pair both dissolved into giggles as they passed through the door of the room and into the hall.

* * *

Amid the cheers and singing and general merriment of the city of Crystal Tokyo, awash in celebrating the unofficial but traditional holiday observance of Queen Serenity's birthday,Danguro Fujita shuffled home. There was a scowl on his face, deep and dark and terribly foreboding to any who might glance at him. He brushed past revelers brusquely, without stopping or acknowledging them. Some stared after him, wondering why he wasn't happy on this, the happiest day of the year on the Japanese calendar?

Danguro ignored them. He had never been one to celebrate Serenity Day. Danguro had always thought of Queen Serenity and King Endymion as hypocrites. They spoke of peace and harmony from their lofty thrones of privilege, never once having to work or strive or suffer. They never had their ideas ignored, their shining potential wasted, their dreams crushed by lack of opportunity. That was Danguro's life. Despite the Royal Family's overt attention to social programs that provided everyone with a home, a job and medical care simply for being citizens of Japan, Danguro yearned for more. He yearned for recognition, for himself and his ideas. He yearned to lead a grateful public like Endymion and Serenity did.

But it would never happen. No one took him seriously. No one could see the genius that lay within him. And even if they did, Endymion and Serenity ruled by acclimation. And should they ever die, the throne would pass to their child by right of birth and ascension. He believed that was why the childless Serenity kept taking in orphans under the pretense of charity. She needed successors should she finally manage to die. The throne of Crystal Tokyo could never be his. Some foundling that Serenity took pity on had a better shot at succeeding her than he did.

The door to Danguro's crystal dwelling hissed shut behind him. He sagged back against the barrier. And it would never happen regardless. Not since the news he'd received hours ago from his healthcare physician. He had Lateral Radiation Toxicity. The diagnosis was confirmed. There was no mistake - - and no cure. Danguro Fujita had anywhere from six weeks to six months left.

Queen Serenity had four hundred and eighteen years on this earth and showed no signs of slowing up. The city cheered. He'd only had forty-one.

And for a moment, it seemed like the city was cheering that, too. Danguro's fist slammed back and struck the Plastoid-Fiber door.

Dropping his shoes on the stoop, Danguro shuffled into the dark abode. Sensing his arrival, the lights came up to a pre-programmed level. He passed his entertainment hub without stopping. Neither vid-streams nor music files interested him. His preoccupied path took him into the kitchen. Danguro paused for a moment, then sighed in resignation.

"Grilled salmon, steamed rice," he told the food preparation unit. Obediently the unit removed the requested items from refrigeration and began preparing them according to programmed recipes. Danguro tried to mount some enthusiasm. After all, he had to eat.

Why?

The thought came unbidden and out of the blue. Why? Why did he have to eat if he was only going to die in six weeks? LRT was such an insidious condition. The victim was fine right up until the end, not knowing the effect the toxic radiation levels were having on the red corpuscles inside. Then, suddenly, the corpuscles began multiplying geometrically until the entire blood stream was choked with them. Unable to move, the victim underwent a massive stroke and simultaneous heart failure, dropping dead on the spot in agonizing pain. No cure had been found and any treatment attempted only prolonged the final agony. It was beyond even the fantastic power of "the great Queen Serenity" to alter.

So why, Danguro thought, should he keep prolonging a life that was destined to end so suddenly and so horribly? Why not end it now? Suicide had been an alternative taken by more than a few LRT patients. Given the historical tradition of suicide in Japanese culture, some had seen it as an honorable alternative to the predicted end.

The food preparation unit signaled that Danguro's meal was ready. With little relish, he removed it and sat at the table he'd shared with no one since leaving his parent's home at nineteen. That was another mark in the column of taking his own life now. Who was there to live for besides himself? The only woman who had ever cared for him in his forty-one years on Earth was his mother. He had always been attracted to women, but had always been rebuffed by them. He wasn't considered attractive by them. He wasn't considered charming. Apparently he wasn't seen as good breeding material. He had no particular sense of humor. He had no large amounts of wealth, thanks to King Endymion's society of equality, nor any particular position of status. So he was alone.

His first bite barely registered on his taste buds. His second was forced into his mouth. The third dangled in his hand, then dropped softly to the plate. This was paradise? Sure, there was no war, no want. Avarice and hatred were considered sins in this perfect society. And yet,there he sat, alone and dying, with no one to care and no one to mourn him but his parents. And Danguro felt rage. He felt anger. He felt naked loathing for the society that ignored him, that refused to acknowledge the unfairness of his life and that would little care about his imminent passing. And he felt hatred for Queen Serenity most of all, for this was all her responsibility. She had led Japan and the world to this spot in history, through her clever lies about peace and harmony, of good will to all and all that. She stood like a silver beacon in the midst of his world, mocking him with her promises of utopia that were all lies.

A sudden, angry motion launched the plate across the room. It and his dinner impacted with the far wall, then clattered to the floor. Instantly, small maintenance robots activated and emerged from their storage compartments in the baseboard. They glided along the floor on miniature compressed air propulsion and converged on the mess. Like scurrying mice, several of the units ingested the spilled food, then returned to their storage cubicles to dispose of the waste in the dwelling's disposal system. The rest carried the undamaged plate to the cleaning receptacle to be dealt with. Once their job was done, they returned to storage.

Danguro ignored it all. Instead he brooded. Oh, how he wished he could make everyone on Earth, could make life in general pay for ferrying him to this desolate point in his existence. But he couldn't. He had no way. There were too many to be made to pay and he had so little time. He glanced up at the ceiling, looking for something to affix a noose to. Better to end it all now. The defiant act of suicide in the face of terminal illness was the only realistic option left to him.

Just then his communications port signaled an incoming communication. Danguro read the display and saw it was a doctor, but he didn't recognize the name. Perhaps there had been a mistake in the diagnosis? Probably just another doctor trying to get him into a treatment facility so he could "expire with dignity". For a moment he wanted to ignore it, but the faint hope of a reprieve kept tempting him until he finally gave in.

"Yes?" Danguro responded. On the video display was a woman. She was attractive, with bewitching violet eyes, a long, elegant face, and long black hair draped almost seductively over one eye. Her prim anti-contamination suit gave her allure a respectable veneer.

"Fujita-San?" she inquired.

"Yes," Danguro repeated impatiently.

"My name is Dr. Kono. I've reviewed your case and I think I can cure you. Is there a time and a place where we can meet?"

Continued in Chapter 2


	2. The Bargain

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 2: "The Bargain"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Tygos paced the cavern lair of her mistress Talon Umbra with an irritable disposition. Her mistress lay dying in the inner chamber, drained of her stygian energy by the spread of peace and love throughout the world above. She paced because she was helpless to do anything save watch her mistress die. Though she had gladly lain down her life on behalf of her mistress in the past and would eagerly do so again, Talon Umbra had forbidden it. That meant she faced a death of her own helplessly, for if Talon Umbra died the death of no rebirth, she and her sister Tenera would not be long behind their mistress. Her fists ached to fight, but she could only pace. Her mistress had done nothing but stare at the image of an Earth human for the last forty-one Earth years, ignoring her pleas to be allowed to act. All she could do was pace like the caged animal she was.

Then her head turned. Tygos felt the silent summons of her mistress and immediately moved to obey. She entered the inner chamber. Talon Umbra lay slumped on her granite throne, drawn and barely alive. Tenera stood to her side, the creature's obsidian form and violet hair nearly lost in the darkness of the chamber. Tygos drew up to the proper distance, then fell to one knee and bowed her head.

"Command me, My Mistress," Tygos said.

"My good right arm," Talon Umbra sighed, "these may be your final moments upon this plane."

"All that I have and all that I am are yours to use as you see fit," Tygos replied.

Talon Umbra smiled weakly. "Then, I charge you, merge with your sister - - so that she may draw upon your strength to perform my will."

Without hesitation, Tygos extended a hand to Tenera. Tenera reached for it and two hands clasped. Instantly Tygos was sucked into Tenera's form. Tenera reeled for a moment, acclimating herself to the rush of energy and emotions. Then she calmed and turned to Talon Umbra. The creature of the deep, her green silk dress hanging loosely on her emaciated body,took what seemed to be a final breath.

"You are certain you know my wishes?" Talon Umbra asked. Tenera nodded. "If all goes well, Serenity's hold will be broken and I will be reborn to propagate hatred and destruction once again. If you fail," and she reached out weakly, faintly brushing the back of Tenera's hand before the creature moved to hold it, "then I commend you and your sister for all that you have done for me over the centuries."

With that, Talon Umbra closed her eyes. Her body began to glow, faintly at first, but with more and more power. Tenera's onyx skin was draped in the glow, her seductive curves and nearly featureless face outlined by the intense light. Then Talon Umbra seemed to contract into herself. Her body shrank, condensing into Tenera's outstretched hand. The glow flared brilliantly, then snuffed out. Tenera hung her head. In her palm was an obsidian crystal, the sole remains of the great and terrible Talon Umbra.

Following instructions, Tenera rose up through the layers of the planet until she reached the surface. Taking on her mist form, the creature flew off in search of her target.

Dr. Sonomi Kono was a practicing physician specializing in radiation and crystalline toxicity. She had been affiliated with The Japanese Medical Health Maintenance Bureau for twelve years after graduating with her doctorate from the University of Hawaii-Honolulu. She and her Hawaiian father had accompanied her Japanese mother back to Japan in part to return her mother to ancestral surroundings. Once there, she'd carved out a career in this paradise on Earth - - an ironic judgement, she'd pointed out more than once, coming from someone who had been born and raised in Hawaii.

But Crystal Tokyo was different that the rest of the world. Though much of the world had learned from the shining example Queen Serenity and King Endymion had set in Crystal Tokyo and altered their societies to mimic it, being this much closer to the architect of the perfect society was that much more exhilarating. She had been one of the lucky ones allowed to emigrate to Crystal Tokyo - - everyone wanted to come, so much so that Endymion had to set immigration restrictions out of necessity - - and she blessed every moment.

The sense of a presence in the room caused Dr. Kono to look up from her computer. She was just in time to witness the spectral image of Tenera floating just six feet from her desk. The woman began to exclaim her confusion and alarm, for while crime was nearly unheard of in Crystal Tokyo, the supernatural was still alarming to humans. Then her eyes locked with Tenera's.

Thick black smoke seemed to pour from the creature. It engulfed Dr. Kono, invading her ears, her nostrils, her eyes and mouth. For a moment the woman panicked, fearing that she would asphyxiate in the choking smoke. Then she had the sensation of falling down into a deep black pit where there was no light and no escape.

Dr. Kono, with Tenera controlling her, sat down at her desk. Using the search program in the video communication terminal's database, she produced the number for Danguro Fujita and initiated communication.

* * *

"IT IS NOT!" 

"IT IS TOO!"

"IS NOT!"

And back and forth the volley went between eleven year old Yoko and her fourteen year old stepbrother Sosuke. They stood on opposite ends of the lunch table in the Royal Dining Room shouting at each other, their voices reverberating through the cavernous palace dining hall, while their eleven adoptive siblings, ranging in age from sixteen to four, watched with a mixture of glee, disappointment and simmering frustration. They were all momentarily forgotten by the two combatants, who only had eyes for each other and for verbally flogging the differing opinion from the other.

"Children!" Luna shouted suddenly, leaping up onto the table between them. Normally Luna was loathe to be on the table, feeling it wasn't her place. But she saw the need to intercede between the combatants and put aside her reservations. "Enough of this unseemly display!"

"It is, too!" snapped Sosuke, ignoring Luna as well as he did the others. "Boys are stronger than girls!"

"It's not a blanket scientific fact!" Yoko snarled back. "You can't make a blanket judgment like that! It's different for everybody!"

"Oh, you are such a . . .!" Sosuke began to roar. Then a hand came to rest on his shoulder. He looked up and his adoptive mother, Queen Serenity, was standing there.

"Please stop fighting," Serenity requested, trying to keep her composure. "Anger doesn't allow a person to see the middle ground and seek the peaceful solution."

"There's no middle ground here!" Sosuke protested. "Girls are not stronger than boys!"

"What about Aunt Makoto?" Yoko shot back.

"She's different! She's a senshi!"

"She still proves my point! You can't just say one thing for an entire group of people!"

"You both have valid points here," Serenity interjected. "If you'd stop fighting long enough to think about these things. . ."

"Stop taking her side all the time!" Sosuke snapped.

A hush fell over the room. Sosuke immediately realized he'd let his temper get away from him. For emphasis, he could see Queen Serenity's lower lip tremble. She looked at him with those wide hurt blue eyes, eyes that were beginning to water. Instantly he felt cruel and worthless.

"God, you are such a creep," Yoko hissed angrily.

"Yoko," Serenity said hoarsely. "Don't say things like that to your brother."

Yoko stared at her, wide-eyed. Then she turned and ran from the room. Serenity got a pained expression on her face and started to follow.

"U-Usagi-mama," she heard Sosuke say in a small voice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Serenity reached down into herself and drew out a smile. "I forgive you, Sosuke-chan. But now you see why anger is such a dangerous thing."

And she hurried out of the room. Sosuke sat down, his adoptive mother's forgiveness little consolation. He could feel the tension in the room and wished he could vanish somewhere so nobody could look at him. Then he spotted Luna glaring at him.

"Don't start, Luna," he muttered. "I feel bad enough already."

In her room, Yoko lay on her bed and brooded. She clutched a stuffed bear to her chest. It was the same bear she'd had all her life, the bear she'd been found clutching in the speeder car wreckage. It was the only link she had left to her life before her parents had died, before Serenity and Endymion had taken her in. It gave her a sense of security.

"Yoko?" came the voice from the other side of the door. Yoko grimaced. On the one hand she wanted Serenity to come in, stroke her hair and tell her everything would be all right, just as she always had. On the other hand, she wanted to be alone to soak in her anger.

"Yes, Mama," she sighed, knowing that Serenity wouldn't come in uninvited. The door slid open. Serenity glided in and sat down on the bed next to the girl. Her hand reached out and stroked the long black hair.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, Yoko," Serenity said.

"Why did you defend him?" Yoko demanded.

"For the same reason I defend you. I'm your mother."

"But he was so mean to you," Yoko fumed. "Sosuke is so mean to everybody anymore."

"Yoko-chan," Serenity sighed. "You have to understand something about Sosuke. Sosuke is at an age where he's undergoing a lot of changes. And those changes have him very confused and uneasy about how and even if he still fits into this world. And because of that, it makes him - - a little scared and defensive, and that leads to anger. He's still the same Sosuke you've always known, deep down. He just needs a little more space and a little more compassion from the people around him until he can figure out where he belongs."

She continued to stroke Yoko's hair and the girl got familiar feelings of security and warmth.

"Do you," Yoko began timidly, "think he's right - - about girls, I mean?"

"That depends on who you're talking about," Serenity said with a wry smile. "After all, there are all kinds of strength. I probably prove Sosuke's point. You know I'm all thumbs at anything that requires any sort of dexterity or physical ability. Now Mako-chan, on the other hand, is good at anything requiring strength or speed and she was even before she became a senshi."

"Then I was right!"

"As far as saying that you can't make blanket generalizations about people," Serenity continued, "yes you were. But Sosuke was right in that males are usually stronger than females. It's the way they're built. You see - - middle ground. And all because we stopped shouting and thought."

"Sosuke was the one shouting," Yoko scowled.

"It takes two to have an argument, Yoko-chan," Serenity reminded her. Yoko's scowl deepened. "Come on . . ."

"OK," she sighed. "I shouldn't have lost my temper."

"Thank you, Yoko-chan," Serenity said. The queen leaned in and kissed the girl. "Now let's go have some lunch. I know I'm starved."

Serenity led Yoko out the door and found Endymion waiting. The child headed for the dining room while her parents lingered.

"I felt you were upset," Endymion told her. "Anything I need to be involved in?"

"Sosuke's still having some trouble coping with puberty," Serenity replied. "Maybe you could spend a little time with him - - get him to open up about what might be troubling him. You know, do whatever it is you men do?"

"'Whatever us men do', Odango Atama?" Endymion shot back with a raised eyebrow. Serenity shot daggers at him. "You make it sound like we haven't evolved from cavemen. Maybe I should take him out and hunt down a stag for dinner."

"You know what I mean!" Serenity fumed.

"I'll see what I can do," he chuckled. Then he leaned in and stole a kiss from his bride, for he knew it was the quickest way to get her to stop frowning - - and the most fun.

* * *

The waiting room was the same type of quiet, sterile void that all doctor's waiting rooms seemed to be. Danguro went up to the desk, pressed his thumb to the identification pad and waited. The reception computer acknowledged his identity and instructed him to sit.

Did this Dr. Kono really have a cure for his condition? Or was he wasting some of the little time he had left? Naturally he would wait and hear her out. If the possibility of avoiding the horrible death that awaited him existed, he had to explore it. Money wasn't an issue, since medical treatment was provided free of charge to all residents of Crystal Tokyo and Japan. Time was the issue. If this "treatment" involved any series of doses that lasted more than two weeks, suicide might be the better option. Could he risk taking a prolonged series of doses only to have it fail and leave him weeks, even days from death?

"Dr. Kono will see you now," the reception computer announced, since he was the only one in the room. Danguro got up and went into the treatment room impressed. This was fast service, even for twenty-fifth century standards. He sat down, wondering if this was one more cruel prank life was about to play upon him.

"Hello, Fujita-San," Dr. Kono said, bowing slightly as she entered. In person, Danguro could see she was an older woman, in her late thirties. Her long silky black hair was pinned up behind her as her duties required. The anti-contamination suit clung to her form and he could see she was a very slim woman. Her look was very pleasant, but he tended to favor more - - robust figures. Those momentary thoughts vanished when she continued speaking. "I'm happy you came. I'll need to take a blood sample first, just to check compatibility with the treatment - - and to make sure you haven't been improperly diagnosed."

Danguro extended the index finger of his right hand. Dr. Kono cupped it with her left and touched a blood analysis probe to it. Without breaking the skin, the probe recorded Danguro's blood type, categorized his DNA and broke down all identifiable pathogens contained in his blood stream. The woman looked at the display for a few seconds.

"Yes, there's no doubt about the diagnosis," Dr. Kono said. Danguro silently welled with anger over the unfairness of it all. "But all the compatibility factors are there. You qualify for the treatment."

"Um, how long will the treatment take?" Danguro asked.

"Not long," Kono smiled. "We can do it here in the office."

She reached into the tray she'd set on the table when she came in and brought out a small box. To Danguro's surprise, she handed the box to him. Inside the box was an obsidian crystal. Except for the highlight on the jewel's farthest facet, the crystal was as black as pitch and held the light jealously. Confused, Danguro looked to the doctor.

"Take it out," she prodded. "Hold it in your hand." When he proved suspicious, Dr. Kono explained. "That is a recently discovered crystal that can leech out the radiation in your blood cells causing the mutation that evolves into the disease. It will restore your blood cells to normal and allow you to lead a normal healthy life."

"How long does it take to work?" Danguro asked.

"It begin the moment it comes in contact with you. You should begin to feel the effects immediately."

Danguro stared at the crystal.

"I assure you, it's perfectly safe," the doctor added. "All the proper testing has been done and there are no side effects."

"Why haven't I heard about this, then?" Danguro asked her. He looked her straight in the eye and Kono could see he was wary. "Lateral Radiation Toxicity is one of the most dreaded diseases in the world. A breakthrough like this would have been splashed all over the news streams."

He noted that Dr. Kono hesitated, as if weighing how much to reveal. That made him even more suspicious.

"The treatment is - - experimental," Dr. Kono told him. "There is some debate, mostly from people who can't believe such good news exists. They insist on searching for side effects that don't exist, all the while allowing people that can be helped to die. I choose to save people."

Danguro looked down. "I," he began, "I'll need a little time . . ."

"Frankly, Fujita-San, given what I saw on the reading I just took, I don't think you have that much time left."

Danguro's head whipped up. He stared at the doctor, who met his stare unflinchingly.

"But it's your choice to make," she conceded and reached for the box. "If you don't want to take it, you don't have to. It's your life to live - - for a little bit longer."

And that was all the push he needed. Danguro pulled the box away from Dr. Kono's reach. She settled back in her chair and watched the man bend over it like he was cradling gold. Cautiously he reached into the box and grasped the crystal. It was cool and smooth to the touch. He lifted it out and turned it around to look at it. No matter how he turned it, the crystal seemed black. Different angles would highlight different facets of the gem, but the interior was a constant black. As he palmed the crystal, Danguro felt an odd sensation pass between it and himself. It was like the crystal was attuning itself to him. Suddenly he got a rush of well-being. He glanced up to the doctor.

"Is that it?" he asked.

"That's all," she smiled. "We're finished here. Go and live the way you normally do. By tomorrow morning, you should feel - - completely different."

Danguro got up, still in a daze. He bowed to the doctor and left. Tenera, inside Dr. Kono's body, watched him leave with a sense of triumph. The first stage was accomplished. Talon Umbra's victory was nearly assured. There was just one loose end. Dr. Kono had seen everything from inside her own mind, though she was helpless to affect or communicate. But once Tenera vacated her, she could warn Fujita or the Queen.

Forcing Dr. Kono's body up, Tenera led her over to the dispensary computer. After it scanned her thumb print and retina, the dispensary produced the vial of curare as requested. Walking over to the desk, Tenera sat Dr. Kono down, then raised the entire vial to the doctor's lips and forced her to drink.

Tenera lingered until the very moment before death before vacating her victim. Those last moments were always so - - entertaining.

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. Obsidian Morning

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 3: "Obsidian Morning"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Rei Hino's eyes snapped open. It was still dark in the section of the palace she used as a Shinto Shrine, the shrine in which she was priestess. There was a moment of disorientation, and then she recognized the signs. She'd had a dream - - a premonition, actually, wrapped in a dream. Rising from the mat she slept on, a tradition in her family line of priests, she spread the simple covering away from her and sat up. Her hand reached back and grasped the satin down pillow - - a modern indulgence that nobody needed to know about save the ancestors who walked with her - - and held it to her chest. Rei sank her chin into the soft pillow and tried to recall the dream.

She was running up a hill. No matter how hard she tried to increase her speed, events conspired against her. The hill was steep, the ground soft and slippery. The folds of her priest robes hampered her stride and she ran into a huge gale. At the top of the peak stood Serenity, innocent as the day she was born and unaware of the threat that loomed around her. Rei couldn't see the threat, but somehow she knew it was there. She called out to Serenity again and again,but the Queen didn't hear her.

Then a fog began to coalesce at the top of the peak. It was an unnatural fog, for it was unaffected by the blowing winds that held Rei back. It was unnatural, for it was a dark mist rather than a light one. The onyx mist began to gather and thicken around Serenity while the Queen remained unaware of the threat. Rei called to her again as the onyx fog thickened and threatened to obliterate all sight of the Queen. This time Serenity turned to her. Initially her reaction was one of warmth and genuine pleasure, but as she saw Rei's difficulty in mounting the hill, Serenity grew concerned. And steadily the fog thickened and darkened.

Without warning, Serenity suddenly clutched at her chest. She threw back her head in agony and screamed to the heavens, although no sound escaped the onyx fog. Unable to support her weight, Serenity crumpled to her knees, her torso folding over onto itself in hopes of smothering the searing pain in her chest. Conscious thought left Serenity and she slumped to the ground. Then the fog thickened enough so that no sight of her could be seen.

In the real world, Rei paused at the door to the Royal Chambers. All the inner senshi knew the code that would open the door when the chamber was in privacy mode. The priest hesitated for a moment, though, wondering if she dared disturb Serenity's sleep. But she had to see that Serenity was safe, even if she knew it deep down.

Besides, Serenity could sleep through a nuclear attack. The door slid open.

Serenity and Endymion lay in their bed, nestled together. Rei smiled gently, relieved that her Monarch and her best friend slept peacefully and grateful that such a warm sight still existed on this world. She turned and silently padded out.

Forty minutes later, Luna began her ritual morning inspection of the palace. The earliest riser in the palace, the little black cat took it upon herself to check everything, spot problems and route them to the proper personnel and generally make sure things were running smoothly, so Endymion wouldn't have to. It made her feel useful since Serenity had long since matured into the monarch Luna had envisioned and more - - and she'd long since given up on molding the queen's personality into that of a mature woman. Strolling into the cafeteria, where the palace personnel dined, she found Rei sitting at a table, nursing a cup of tea that was no longer steaming.

"You're certainly up early," Luna commented, leaping up into the chair next to Rei.

Rei glanced at her, but was clearly distracted. Upon reconsideration by Luna, distracted wasn't the proper word. Haunted seemed more fitting.

"You've seen something?" Luna inquired.

"Are you 'reading people' now?" Rei asked.

"Only those I've known for four hundred years," Luna replied. "It's obviously something bad."

"Maybe. It wasn't too clear."

"But it involves Serenity."

Rei looked at the cat sharply, as one who regretted exposure.

"Simple logic," Luna explained. "What else would get you this upset and yet not be a clear and discernible threat?"

"Yes," Rei sighed in defeat. "Something's going to threaten Serenity. I don't know what, or where or when or anything. I couldn't even tell if it's a threat to her life or to her dream. But it's coming." The black cat scowled, showing her disappointment over the news openly.

"Will you be able to tell more through one of your fire readings?"

"It doesn't work like that," Rei shook her head. "I get premonitions only through dreams, and once I get them, the kami of fire won't reveal more. Kami can be territorial and they don't like to step on each other's toes."

"But so many lives could be at stake!" Luna reeled.

Rei shrugged. "Kami can be like that. And if they won't talk, I don't have the power to force them."

"Since it doesn't appear to be an immediate threat, I'll summon the others after breakfast," Luna told her. "Will the conference room be adequate or would you prefer to meet in the shrine?"

"That's fine," Rei murmured. She stared down into her tea. "Things were going so well. Humanity had come so far. Her dream was in reach." A tear trickled down Rei's cheek. "What kami did she anger?"

"Is there a 'kami' of evil?" Luna asked. "It's the only one I can possibly thing of."

And Luna was down from the chair and out the door. Rei put the tea to her lips. The bitter taste didn't manage to soothe her.

* * *

Danguro Fujita woke to a pleasant surprise. He felt good. He felt better than he'd felt in years. Glancing over at his night stand next to the bed, Danguro locked onto the obsidian crystal Dr. Kono had given him. Was what she had told him really true? Could the crystal really cure his condition? 

Surprise filled him. The crystal was larger. Before it had only been the size of a small stone, about eight centimeters across. Now it was larger. Had he been mistaken before in his assessment of the crystal's size? Or had it grown during the night?

No, that was impossible.

"As impossible as a crystal curing Radiation Toxicity," Danguro murmured. For a moment he considered calling Dr. Kono and questioning her, but then he reconsidered. Was it important? Wasn't the fact that he felt healthy again, alive and full of energy the only important thing? He reached over and plucked the crystal up. When it was in his hand, he felt even better.

Enjoying a hearty breakfast for the first time in years, Danguro made his preparations for work. The job was boring. He programmed computerized environmental control systems. It was repetitive. It was uninspiring. It was aggravating when he would have to program in the same software paths when he knew a better procedure. But no one listened to him. No one ever listened to him. As he traveled to work, feeling the vigor of his new lease on life, Danguro wondered if perhaps it was time he did something else. After all he was going to live another fifty years now. There was no way he wanted to live it doing what he did now.

A pretty young woman approached him on the street traveling in the opposite direction. She wasn't strikingly beautiful, but she was young and pert and had a vivacious energy to her. She was a woman Danguro would love to get to know, love to spend time with, love to exist within her shining orbit. But even as they neared and he looked directly at her, she paid no attention to him. He knew the signs. She had no interest in him. He was nothing to her and would always be nothing. Ah, if only he could experience her lips, her body for one moment in time. . .

And a voice in his head asked, "Why not?"

Suddenly bereft of hesitancy, Danguro reached out and seized the woman by the arms, spinning her out of her path and to him. Before the startled woman could react, Danguro leaned in, dipping her backwards, and kissed her, long, deep and full on the lips while he pressed her warm, soft form to his chest. The woman began to struggle in his grip to squirm away, but he held her effortlessly in place until he was finished. Only then did he raise her back up to her feet and release her. Incensed, the woman struck Danguro across the face.

And he laughed. Laughed heartily at the ease in which he took her, the ease in which he controlled her and took what he wanted, and her impotent response to him. The woman turned and stalked off, eager to escape while she could. Danguro let her. As pretty as she was, there were women prettier still than her. He could have them, if he wished, just as easily as he'd had her. So what if they protested or struck back? He'd survived death. What could they do to him?

Ignoring the stares of the other people on the street, Danguro headed to his office. Where had those thoughts come from? He liked them. He liked the freedom those thoughts suddenly granted him. He like the exhilaration of not conforming, of not considering the impact his actions might have on those around him. He'd always felt urges like that, deep down. But suddenly he had the courage - - or abandon to act on his urges. What had changed?

He looked down at the crystal, fished from his pocket. Was that it? It hadn't changed. Perhaps it was just a stone. Perhaps the courage had always been within him and his brush with death had set it free.

Entering his office, Danguro noticed the detector on his desk calendar go off. Whenever he had a message, the sensor on the electronic calendar would trigger the replay of the message whenever it sensed him enter the room.

"Fujita-San," he heard the calendar's electronic voice replay, "this is Hiroyashi. Please come to my office the moment you hear this message."

That was unusual. Hiroyashi, the department head, never called him into the office. He barely knew Fujita existed. With some suspicion and distaste, Danguro went over and waited at the office door for the computer to recognize him. The door slid open and Danguro walked in.

"Thank you for coming, Fujita-San," Hiroyashi said, motioning him to a chair.

Hiroyashi was fifty-seven and had the look of a stereotypical Japanese manager: balding, glasses and a heavier than he should have frame. He even wore the uniform of a white shirt, black tie and slacks. He seemed concerned about something, something bad. Danguro got an ominous feeling.

"We received your medical report from your medical care office," Hiroyashi began reluctantly. "First off, let me say how sorry I am - - and the company is - - that you've contracted LRT. It was very sad news to us. You're a valued member of this company and it's a tragic thing to happen."

"You don't have to worry about that," Danguro smiled. "I don't have it any longer."

Hiroyashi stared at him, unable to know how to react. It was common knowledge that there was no cure for Lateral Radiation Toxicity.

"I," Hiroyashi fumbled his response, "realize that this is a blow to you. And given the short span of time between contraction of the condition and - - and the final days. . ."

"Are you deaf?" growled Danguro. "I said I was fine!"

Hiroyashi recalled Danguro's condition and let the rude response pass. "It's always been the policy of this company to put the person suffering from this on permanent leave of absence - - so they can use what little time they have left to attend to personal matters."

"So you're throwing me out?" Danguro spat angrily. "Are you afraid I'm going to infect everyone else? Or doesn't anyone else want to deal with the poor dying man?"

"Fujita-San, I realize that this is a very stressful time for you . . ."

"Don't patronize me! You must have finally gotten what you wanted! You're rid of me! This report gave you the excuse you needed and you're going to take it, regardless of whether I'm cured or not!" Danguro shot up out of the chair and pounded his fist on the desk. "But don't think for a moment that I'm not smart enough to see what you're doing! And don't think for a moment I'll let you get away with it."

Hiroyashi's expression turned to stone. "You will, of course, receive your full salary during your leave of absence. Please be out of your office by the end of the day. We'll need to start training your replacement."

With the speed of a striking cobra, Danguro lunged across the desk and caught Hiroyashi around the throat with both hands. The older man toppled back on his chair, dragging Danguro with him because the younger man refused to let go. His victim thrashed wildly beneath him, but Danguro hunched his shoulders and refused to let go of the soft tissue of his victim's throat. After about a minute, the thrashing subsided. After two minutes, Hiroyashi's body went limp.

It was four minutes before Danguro realized the old man was dead and let go. He rolled back off of him, rising to his feet, all the while locked with his eyes onto the old man's frozen expression of panic and terror.

And Danguro realized he felt good. Better than he had waking up this morning. Better than when he stole a kiss from the woman in the street. He fished the obsidian crystal out of his pocket and stared at it.

The stone remained unchanged. And yet it seemed to pulse in his hand.

Danguro turned and left the office. He passed by his own office on his way out the door. Nothing in his office held any meaning to him anymore. Nothing in this building held any meaning to him anymore. He'd found his true calling and he was going to pursue it. Nothing else mattered.

* * *

Sweeping through her combination café and bakery with the grace and aplomb of a seasoned veteran, Makoto Kino brought the tray over to the table and began passing out plates of food to her guests. Seated at the table - - the only one occupied, for Makoto had closed the restaurant to all save them - - were Queen Serenity herself, plus a dark and handsome young man of twenty-five named Hojo Ishikawa and a short-haired, darkly beautiful young woman of twenty named Sakura Ikegami. The usual breakfast rush had been turned away. As Serenity cooed over the standard lush and enticing preparations Makoto was noted for, her friend deftly served her guests, then put a place down for herself and took a seat at the table. 

"You really didn't have to close the place, you know," Serenity protested as she drooled over breakfast.

"Hon', it's my restaurant and I can do whatever I want," Makoto told her. "Besides, this is supposed to be a family time and it wouldn't be very family oriented with a shop full of people fawning over you."

"She's got you there, Mama," Hojo smiled.

"Oh, poo!" huffed Serenity. "I hate cutting into Mako-chan's business like that."

"She'll be all right, Serenity," Sakura said gently.

"Yeah, you know I only do this because it's fun," Makoto added. "It's not like I need the money."

"That's Grandma-cubed's pattern, Serenity," Sakura continued. "She'll do her 'restaurant' thing for a few years until she starts feeling guilty about not hovering over you. Then she'll quit and do the 'intense senshi' thing for a few years until she gets the itch to go back into the restaurant biz again." Serenity twittered with laughter, for she knew it was true.

"Didn't your father ever teach you to respect your elders?" Makoto asked with playful annoyance.

"Who do you think I learned that from?" Sakura asked with a smirk.

Makoto sighed. "Every generation seems to get more lippy, Serenity. What can you do?"

"You'll survive," Serenity shot back. "Besides, this isn't why we're here!"

"We're here because Aunt Makoto is giving you another free breakfast?" Hojo asked slyly. That drew one of Serenity's famous mock pouts.

"You'll survive," Makoto gleefully whispered in her ear.

"We're here," fumed Serenity, "to celebrate your engagement!" The Queen softened. "Oh, Hojo, when you told me, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I'm so happy for the two of you!"

"Well, with Sakura working her charm on me from one side," Hojo grinned, "and you wearing me down from the other, it's not like I had a chance."

"It just shows that you don't stand a chance against true love," Serenity smiled happily. "I still remember the day you two first met."

"Serenity," Sakura sighed with embarrassment.

"Don't be modest! We'd just taken little Hojo in after his parents died in that reactor accident. And you were at the palace visiting Mako-chan - - and the first thing you said when you saw him was 'I'm going to marry him.'"

"It wasn't the first thing I said," Sakura sighed.

"No, but it was pretty close," Makoto added, stroking the woman's hair. "And I can't really blame you. Even at twelve, Hojo was just a little heart-breaker."

"And, as I recall, you didn't want to have anything to do with, and I quote, 'that moonstruck little seven year old stick'," Sakura added, glancing mischievously at her fiancé.

"I was a kid," Hojo shrugged. "You grow older, you get smarter." He reached over and took Sakura's hand. "And it's not exactly like you're a stick anymore." Sakura felt herself blushing.

"So what is this, three for us now?" Makoto asked Serenity.

"Your Ichiro married my Setsuko," Serenity recalled warmly. "Then your Mitsuhiko married my Kaoru. It must be fate."

"And you never helped things along," Makoto grinned.

"You have your hobbies, I have mine," Serenity replied, very pleased with herself.

Then she went pale. As the others at the table grew concerned, the Queen just stared out into space with a look of utter horror.

"Mama?" Hojo inquired, touching her arm. "What are you sensing?"

"Someone just died," Serenity whispered, "violently."

"Was it an accident?"

"I don't think so," Serenity replied. Tears trickled down her cheeks. "The terror went on for too long. It was too savage to be an accident."

"In Crystal Tokyo?" Hojo asked. He and Sakura had grown up in a world where murder was as rare as unmanaged earthquakes. Makoto wasn't so lucky. She frowned at the uneasy implications. Then her senshi communicator signaled her.

Hojo was by his adoptive mother's side, trying to somehow comfort her. The look of distress he saw on her face was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Sakura looked on, trying to be supportive and not really knowing how. Then Makoto reached out and grasped Serenity by the wrist. The Queen turned to her.

"That was Luna," Makoto informed her. "Rei had a premonition last night. There may be trouble brewing."

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. In Their Black Souls

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 4: "In Their Black Souls"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Danguro Fujita walked down the street of Crystal Tokyo a free man. In his mind he had no responsibilities to anyone - - no job, no family, and certainly no kinship with the people around him. What had they done all his life besides ignore him, rebuff him, disown him? They had even sought to shuffle him off to die alone and forgotten. But he'd beaten them, beaten them all.

It was strange, in a way. He'd always harbored such thoughts. They'd be drawn out from their hiding place from time to time by anger or loneliness or rejection. But now they were uppermost in his mind, dominating his waking moments and perhaps even the moments he slept. Never in his life could he remember seeing things more clearly. The world was revealed to him. He brought out the obsidian crystal that Dr. Kono had given him. Ever since the moment he'd touched this strange, wonderful crystal, his vision was clear and unclouded by indecision or recrimination.

He looked around at the people passing him on the street or talking in the shops and restaurants. All of them gaily ignoring him and all the while he knew how superior he was to them now. Could they have beaten the death sentence that was Lateral Radiation Toxicity? Would they have exacted revenge on their lying, back-stabbing boss as quickly as he had?

That thought made him stop. Oblivious to the curious stares of those around him, Danguro merely stared off into space, stunned by the sudden realization. His supervisor was dead and he had killed him. There would be consequences - - wouldn't there? Society wouldn't stand for so blatant an act of defiance.

And then his clarity of vision came to his aid once more. Consequences were only for those who were afraid. If one didn't fear disapproval, banishment, reprisals, even death, then consequences meant nothing. The judgment of society was nothing to him, as he was above society and all who dwelled within it now. Had he not beaten death? What more was there to fear than that?

A sudden fatigue swept through him. Danguro wondered about it for a moment, then dismissed the concern. He was fine. He'd beaten LRT. He was allowed a little fatigue. Perhaps something to eat would lift his spirits. Danguro turned into a sweet shop.

"Yes, sir. How may I assist you?" the proprietor bowed eagerly. He was a man in his forties. Danguro sensed he was happy with his lot in life and fulfilled by his work, though Danguro didn't understand how he knew.

Danguro ignored him. He reached over the display counter and picked up three boxes of candy-coated sugar drops, then turned and headed for the door.

"Wait, sir," the proprietor called out. He hurried out from behind the display counter when Danguro didn't stop. "Wait! You have to pay for those!"

When Danguro continued on leisurely, the shop owner seized him by the arm. Danguro stopped, turned around, then jammed his free hand into the man's face and shoved him to the floor. Unconcerned about the shopkeeper's welfare, Danguro walked out of the shop, popping sugar drops into his mouth.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" cried Ran, his wife of nineteen years as she ran out to assist her husband. "Kentaro! Kentaro, are you all right?"

She knelt down next to Kentaro and helped him to his feet. As Kentaro looked to his wife, suddenly the humiliation he felt at being so brutalized flooded through him. It soaked through his very soul and in seconds fermented into an anger he had never known. And Kentaro Umotoro, who had never raised a hand in anger to anyone since striking his younger brother at age five, turned on his wife and struck her viciously across the face.

Ran spun to the floor. She looked up in shock and betrayal at her loving husband of nineteen years. He stared down at her and for a second looked like a snapping, ravenous animal. Ran felt afraid and hurt and made no effort to conceal it. Then the rage drained away and Kentaro realized what he had done. But rather than apologize or help his wife up, he could only turn away in shame.

* * *

"Endymion," Serenity said, entering her husband's computer room. He was, as usual,tinkering with the computer, adding onto it even though it already encompassed nearly a quarter of the room. He looked up at her, instantly struck by the gravity of her tone.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Someone else has died," she related, "violently."

Endymion was up and at her side in an instant. Serenity accepted the offered comfort spot against his firm chest, his protective arms around her. It helped a little.

"When did you sense this?" he asked.

"This morning," she told him. "At the breakfast Mako-chan and I were having for Hojo and Sakura. Endymion, is there any news of the one I felt yesterday evening?"

"Nothing yet," Endymion frowned. "And there are no reports of any accidents or natural disasters that might be associated with this. This is almost unheard of. There hasn't been this many violent deaths this close together in Crystal Tokyo in nearly a hundred years."

"And I haven't missed it a bit," Serenity said, nearly sobbing. Endymion stroked her forehead, for he knew the psychic toll violent death took on the hyper-perceptive Serenity. "What does it mean? Is someone doing this?"

"I don't know," he told her as she clung to him. "But I'll marshal the security forces and find out." He glanced over at his recently upgraded computer. "Maybe this is something I can use to test the added capacity of my computer system."

"Any excuse to putter on your new toy," Serenity scowled.

"I am using it to attempt to solve a possible threat to this city and this society," Endymion countered. Serenity gave him a cynical look. "That attempt just happens to let me putter on my new toy."

He leaned down and pecked her on the lips. Serenity tried to frown, but couldn't keep it in place.

"Did you talk to Sosuke yet?" Serenity asked.

"I did," Endymion told her as he touched various crystals on his computer's control panel. "He's very sorry for what happened and for any hurt feelings he gave you or his sister." Endymion smiled knowingly. "Just don't expect him to admit to it. He is a fourteen year old boy after all."

"Oh, you men," Serenity sighed.

"I let him know that the world is not out to get him and that he has a family who loves him and supports him no matter what changes he's going through. I also told him that it's a strong man who is nice to people, particularly loved ones, even when he doesn't particularly feel like it. He's a little embarrassed by the whole incident and I think he understands."

"Thank you," Serenity smiled. "I used to be able to talk to him, but he seems so distant now."

"He's just sorting through a few things," Endymion assured her. "Remember, Hojo was the same way at that age. So was Yusuke and Shinichi and . . ."

"PLEASE don't run through the list of EVERY boy we've adopted over the years," groaned Serenity. "It makes me feel so old. I'll take your word for it."

"I'll call you if I get results," Endymion said, continuing to work his computer console. "If you feel anything else that might be connected to this, let me know."

"I will. Don't be long," Serenity said, then grew a malicious look to her. "Our brood would like to see their father in the flesh once in a while."

The King and Queen exchanged playful looks, then Serenity glided out.

* * *

Ami, Rei and Makoto sat in one of the chambers of the shrine occupying part of one of the floors of the Crystal Tokyo palace. Rei tapped her finger on the table in annoyance while Ami and Makoto passed the time with small talk. After a while, Makoto nudged a plate of cinnamon rolls toward the impatient priest.

"Have one," Makoto urged her.

"They make me fat," Rei fussed.

"It's what they're supposed to do," Makoto smiled maliciously. "Have one."

Rei glared. As usual, she hated being told what to do.

"It's not like you're saving your figure for some guy," Makoto countered. "I don't think you've had a date in a hundred and fifty years."

"Being a priest is a full-time job," Rei shot back.

"So is being a restauranteur and a great-grandmother," Makoto maintained. "I manage."

"Yeah, but you're out of the palace. I'm here, so that means I have to ride herd on Serenity all day. That MAKES it a full-time job."

"And yet you've never chosen to leave," Ami remarked, with her glasses perched on her nose and one of her know-it-all smirks on her face.

"And that is important WHY?" Rei challenged.

"Just considering the psychological implications," Ami said sweetly.

Rei's response was cut off when Minako breezed in hurriedly. She was in a white body-suit covered in glitter and was made up like she'd just been on stage.

"You're late," Makoto told her.

"Sorry," the blonde alibied. "I was shooting the AV stream for my latest cyber-concert."

"That's an excuse?" Rei inquired testily.

"Well give me some advance notice the next time you're going to have a dream about Armageddon!" Minako barked. "Some of us have a life outside of this palace, you know! Ooh, cinnamon rolls."

"You'll get fat," Ami cautioned.

"I have the perfect way to work it off," Minako proclaimed, then leered. "His name's Yahiko."

"Can we get down to business?" Rei scowled.

"Hear hear," Ami replied.

"Yes, let's," Makoto added.

"You three are no fun anymore," Minako frowned, then flopped into a chair. "So what happened? I thought Serenity outlawed everything from unkind thoughts on up."

"Well somebody didn't get the e-message," Rei replied. Reflexively she rubbed her temple.

"Are you ill?" Ami asked. Instantly her handheld bio-scanner was out and checking on her friend.

"Physically, no," Rei replied. "But something is disturbing me psychically. I've had a headache since I woke up this morning. I don't know if it's leftover from that dream I had or if I'm sensing something else."

"I was wondering," Minako said. "You seemed a little crankier than usual."

"Diplomatic as always, Blondie," Makoto murmured. "So what's the threat?"

"I don't know," Rei sighed. "I saw Serenity being surrounded by a black cloud. I tried to get to her, but she was too far away. Suddenly she clutched her chest and fell to the ground. Then the cloud envelops her."

The room was silent for a moment.

"So someone's after Serenity?" Makoto asked, deadly serious.

"Maybe," Rei sighed again.

"What do you mean 'maybe'?"

"You can't always interpret dreams literally, Makoto," Ami piped up. "I've studied dream interpretation as part of my investigations into psychology and psycho-therapy. Dreams are often symbolic, usually expressing repressed fears or desires in the sub-conscious of the dreamer."

"And it's the same way with premonition dreams," Rei explained. "Only instead of expressing my sub-conscious, it's expressing - - well, I guess you could say the sub-conscious of whatever kami controls fate or the future."

"Wow, this script needs a rewrite," Minako interjected.

"Simply put, the dark cloud is symbolic of a manifestation of evil or some sort of aggression," Ami postulated. "It could be directed at Serenity, but Serenity could be symbolic as well, perhaps of Crystal Tokyo as a whole."

"I get it," Minako nodded. "And her clutching her chest could mean the evil is trying to kill her - - or the city."

"Or it wants the Silver Crystal," Makoto proposed.

"Or it's after someone she loves," Rei added. "The heart is often symbolic of love or affection. It could be the target is Endymion, or the whole city. Or something else she holds dear."

The conversation died again.

"Well I'm glad we could narrow it down," Minako quipped. "Do you have any way to find out more?"

"Not unless I get another dream," Rei said. "Fire premonitions and dream premonitions usually don't come together. If one works, the other doesn't."

"OK, well how about that psychic disturbance you're feeling," Makoto proposed. "Assume that it's not leftovers from your dream. What then?"

Rei searched what she was feeling.

"Then I'd say whatever is out there is weak now," Rei revealed, "but getting stronger. I don't have any way of knowing how strong. But if it's strong enough to threaten the entire city, maybe even the entire country . . ."

"Then it's in our best interests to find it before it gets stronger," Minako concluded.

"So where do we start looking?" Makoto asked.

Minako scowled.

"I can look over the Defense Force logs for the last few days," Ami offered. "Perhaps I can detect some sort of statistical trend or anomaly."

"Sounds good," Minako nodded. "I'll collect Artemis and wander around some. Maybe we'll stumble onto something. Rei, you and Makoto see if you can 'manage' to stay close to Serenity as much as possible. And if you come up with anything else, Rei, let us know."

"No problem," Rei nodded.

The four got up to leave. Then Makoto noticed Rei reaching for another cinnamon roll. The two locked eyes and Rei colored slightly.

"If I get fat, it's going to be your fault," Rei groused, then savagely bit into the pastry. Makoto grew visibly smug.

* * *

In his habitation chambers, Danguro paused before the mirror. He looked himself over from top to bottom, then engaged the holographic projector and looked over the projection of himself from behind. Something about him was different. He seemed - - thinner. But he was struck even more by the smile on his face and his confident bearing. He hadn't been this pleased with life in quite a while. To his eye, he seemed to project more assurance and confidence than ever before. Ever since he got that crystal from Dr. Kono - - it was as if it hadn't just cured his disease, it had cured every ill in his life. If he seemed a little more lean, that was probably a good thing, probably the crystal's work as well.

Without the bitterness of his day torturing his thoughts, Danguro slipped right off to sleep. The obsidian crystal lay next to his bed on a night stand. Though there was no light to highlight the black crystal, it seemed to glow ever so slightly in the darkness.

In his dreams, Danguro found himself sitting in his bed. The atmosphere of the room was strange, and yet he didn't feel afraid. It wasn't as if he feared something being in the room with him. It was like he expected something. The brush of a bare foot on his carpet drew his attention. There he saw her.

She was beautiful, impossibly beautiful. Her face and parts of her long, lean, tawny body were highlighted by a light source that came from nowhere he could pinpoint. As she slowly walked to him, the light highlighted a long, smooth, tantalizingly well constructed leg, the foot pointed as she walked and the toes curled like talons. As she moved, the light would delineate and then capriciously hide other parts of her body just as it exposed and then hid her legs: a creamy soft, sloping shoulder, an aqualine neck, a trim waist. And the things he longed to see seemed to always be just covered by the shadows of the night.

As she neared him, Danguro could better glimpse her face framed by long, thick, full silken brown hair. She had high cheekbones and a long, regal nose. Her lips were blood red and full. Her jaw was pointed. But the most striking feature of her were her eyes. Beneath hooded eyelids were green eyes that had a hypnotic hold. They were serpent's eyes, but it only seemed to make her that much more exotic and alluring. Most importantly to Danguro, they were eyes that held no malice toward him, no disdain or loathing. They were willingly locked upon him and looked at him with great interest.

When she came right up to the bed, the woman gracefully bent down and slid in next to him. She leaned into him, unafraid and unapologetic. They were close - - intimately close. He could feel her soft, bare flesh press up against him. Her face was close, close enough for him to feel her breath upon his lips. Danguro felt the excitement she inspired within him, but he waited cautiously. She wanted something, that he knew from bitter experience. She was trying to tempt him to get her way and he wouldn't be an easy mark for her.

"It's true," she admitted, her voice a low, seductive whisper. "I do want something."

"What?" Danguro asked suspiciously.

"I want to make your dreams come true."

He looked at her. Her lips parted slightly, silently inviting him to indulge himself.

"And what do you get out of it?" he asked.

"The defeat of an old enemy," she replied calmly, casually, seemingly taunting him with his suspicion, "and a far, far better world. I'm less of a fan of this world than you are. I can give you the power to change it. All you have to do is see it through to the end." She caressed his cheek lightly. "And in return, anything you want is yours."

He glanced down at her naked body shrouded in shadows and revealed only to his touch.

"Anything?" he asked.

Talon Umbra smiled seductively, then leaned in and kissed Danguro with a passion born of ten billion years.

In the waking world, Danguro slept on. The only visible signs of his dream were the growing smile on his face - - and the rhythmic pulsing of the obsidian crystal.

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. Tainted

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 5: "Tainted"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Two members of Crystal Tokyo's Central Defense and Protection Department pulled their air-convection powered craft up to a dwelling in one of Crystal Tokyo's quiet residential sections and got out. As always was and would always be, their presence immediately drew the attention of all who saw them. The two officers ignored the stares and consulted their PDAs.

"This is the right address," remarked the lead officer.

Kon Shimizu was a four year veteran of the force. He was partnered with Keiko Nobuhito, herself a member for two years and Shimizu's partner for eight months. Their duties were to maintain the public safety, assist the public whenever necessary, and protect them from any natural or criminal danger. The latter was a job description only. In the paradise that was Crystal Tokyo, crime was nearly extinct and violations of the public safety were usually the result of ignorance or over-heated passion. The subtle seduction of Queen Serenity, from her words to her actions to that almost mystical way she had that suddenly made you loathe to disappoint her, had nearly eliminated evil intent from Japan and spread further and further around the world with every generation.

The two officers walked up to the front door of the dwelling, registered in the Crystal Tokyo Central Database to one Danguro Fujita. At the door, they waited to be recognized.

"This is the Fujita residence," the door's sensor stated. "Please identify yourselves and state your business." It was the standard query to anyone not recognized as a friend in the computer's database.

"Officer's Shimizu and Nobuhito of the CDP," Shimizu said. "We have some questions for Fujita-San regarding his supervisor at work."

The pair waited while the door's computer control paged the owner of the dwelling.

"Fujita-San does not respond to this unit's page," the computer control announced. The two officers exchanged concerned glances.

"Computer, this is a CDP security override," Shimizu said. "Entry code X38221, confirm with retinal scan."

A small, low intensity laser beam scanned down the faces of the two officers until it scanned their eyes.

"Scans confirmed," the computer announced. The door unlocked.

Sliding the door open, the two officers warily entered the dwelling. The front room seemed typical of the decor of most Crystal Tokyo homes of the era. Nothing seemed amiss. Still, both officers drew their shock clubs for defense. Though they were forbidden by royal decree to carry lethal weapons, Serenity had conceded the use of shock clubs to the CDP forces. The hard rubber batons emitted a small electrical shock. It was very unpleasant, but never lethal.

After sweeping the living room and the kitchen and finding nothing, the two officers headed for the bedroom. Sliding inside, both of them found Danguro laying on the bed. He looked drawn and emaciated, as if he hadn't eaten in six months. His black hair had mostly fallen out, leaving unsightly clumps in his skull. His eyes were fixed and glassy, staring at the ceiling, while his mouth was drawn back in a hideous cadaver's grin.

"What do you think happened?" Nobuhito asked out loud, her eyes fixed on the mummified remains laying on the bed.

"I don't know. That's for the coroner's office to determine," Shimizu replied. He pulled up his PDA in order to call in the Medical Examiner's office. "Guess this rules him out as a suspect in the Hiroyashi murder."

"But what about the witnesses who put him in the man's office yesterday?"

"Use your eyes. This corpse hasn't moved in months."

"So why didn't the environmental control computer report it?" Nobuhito posed.

"Program glitch," Shimizu shrugged.

"So why doesn't it smell?" Nobuhito persisted. "If this body has been decomposing for months, it should reek in here!"

"Environmental anomaly," Shimizu countered. "The air must have been dry enough to inhibit decomposition and induce mummification."

"Kon, it doesn't add up," Nobuhito argued.

"Well, let the medical team figure it out," Shimizu said. He leaned over the body. "It's a cinch this guy hasn't moved in . . .!"

Suddenly Danguro's hand shot up from the bed and clamped around Shimizu's throat. The startled officer began thrashing, trying to pull away, while choking and gurgling from his suddenly blocked airway. Instantly Nobuhito raced in. She struck the body three times with the shock club, blows that should have stunned any normal human. But Danguro ignored them. A swift backhand blow slapped the shock club away and flung Nobuhito against the far wall. She crumpled to the floor and struggled to regain her senses.

When she regained her vision and looked up, she suddenly wished she was still stunned. Danguro stood, looking like the walking dead. He stared down at her with bulging, inhuman eyes that seemed to recede into the sunken sockets of his skull-like head. In his left hand, he held her limp partner by the throat. The hand relaxed and Kon Shimizu slumped to the floor, dead.

Then, in what seemed like just an eye blink, Danguro was on top of her. He pinned her shoulder to the wall with his left hand, the hand that had murdered her partner. His right hand raised up. It was then she saw the knife. Keiko Nobuhito screamed once.

* * *

"Serenity?" Rei inquired.

Serenity's despair had washed over the priest like an ocean wave. The Queen was bent over in her chair. Rei clutched her by the arms and eased her back up. Serenity had her hands cupped over her mouth and tears streamed down her face.

"Mama?" Yoko inquired. Yoko had been in the room, too, as well as several of the younger adoptees that called the Crystal Palace home. It had been a family gathering, one of those things where it was hard to tell who benefitted more, the children or Serenity.

"Children," Rei announced solemnly, "I need to be alone with your Mama. Please go to your rooms or one of the play areas."

"Will Mama be all right?" whimpered Kei, a little girl of six.

"Yes," Rei assured them. "Now please go. This is - - grown up stuff."

Reluctantly the children filed out - - all except Yoko.

"Yoko," Rei said sternly.

"Mama, what is it? You can tell me!" the child begged the still shaken Queen.

"Yoko!" Rei hissed.

"Mama needs me!" the girl challenged. Rei saw the fervency in her eyes and on one level identified with it.

"Yoko, I will handle it," Rei said firmly. "This may involve something that you're too young to hear about." The girl started to protest. "Don't make me spank you!"

"Yoko-chan," Serenity whispered, sniffling. "Go on, please. I'll be all right - - with Rei."

She didn't want to go. Rei could see it and was prepared to enforce their wishes, no matter how much Serenity might object. Then Yoko relented and sullenly left the room. Before she disappeared out of the door, the girl gave her adoptive mother one last concerned look.

"Did someone else die violently?" Rei asked when Yoko was gone. She heard the door hiss open and was about to snap at the child. However, it was only Endymion.

"Two," Serenity whimpered. "Oh, Rei, it was horrible! They were so afraid!"

"I felt the disturbance in the life chain as well," Endymion told them. He knelt down next to Serenity and she clung to him. Reluctantly Rei backed off. "Plus I felt you. Were these natural deaths?"

"No," Serenity sobbed. "Something killed them. From the level of fear I felt, it had to be intentional."

"I'll notify the CDP," Endymion told her, then reached up and stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."

"I know," Serenity whispered. She caught Endymion's hand and kissed the palm. When Endymion moved off, Rei moved back in. She offered her hand and Serenity took it gratefully. "Do you suppose this is connected to the other deaths?"

"They're too close together for me to think otherwise," Rei told her. "I don't have any proof. Ami and Minako are working on that. But I just get a feeling that they're linked to each other - - and to that dream I told you about."

"If that's so, it's terrible - - terrible," Serenity moaned. "Why, Rei, why? What possible thing could killing four people accomplish?"

"How many times have we had this discussion?" Rei asked her. "Humans aren't as pristine as you want them to be. They surrender to their weaker instincts sometimes. It's not right. It's not good. But it happens. I know you want to think the best of everyone, but that isn't always realistic."

"But humanity's come so far! We both remember what it was like in the twentieth century. Things are so much better now! What could possibly cause this? What reason could they have?" Serenity seemed to sag. "It's my fault."

"Here it comes," Rei sighed.

"Don't make fun of me! It is my fault! I should have tried harder! Should have been a better example!"

"There's nothing more you could have done, short of mind control," Rei told her. "Serenity, you can only show them the way. Ultimately they have to decide whether they're going to follow. And sadly, all it takes is one stray to cause havoc." Seeing Serenity was still morose, Rei put her arm around the woman and hugged her. "Come on. I'll make you some tea."

"Extra sugar?" Serenity whimpered.

"Who says you deserve extra sugar?" Rei needled. When Serenity didn't take the bait, the priest softened. "OK, extra sugar. And I think I can dig up a cookie, too."

"What would I do without you, Rei?" Serenity sighed sadly.

"Silly, haven't I told you that for years," Rei replied gently as she led the Queen off.

* * *

Danguro shuffled down the street, oblivious to the people who passed him and to their dismayed stares. They were beneath his notice, for now he was above them on the evolutionary plane. That's the way he felt. And that's what she told him.

He still could hear her soft, seductive hiss of a voice in his ears, telling him how wonderful he was, how he was her champion, how together they could achieve a greatness available to no mere human. And he could still feel her soft, cool touch, still feel her mold her body to his, mold her lips to his and the paroxysm of ecstasy he felt. Though when he woke she was gone, replaced by the two intruding CDP officers, she was still there within him, as was the obsidian crystal that made him so much more than he was.

The people he passed continued to stare. When he didn't acknowledge their stares, the people turned away and resumed their lives. But there was a difference now. Suddenly, the lives of the people he passed didn't seem as bright as they had before. Thoughts and feelings and little irritations that hadn't been important enough to dwell upon before suddenly appeared and wouldn't go away. Little jealousies and injuries that had once been swept aside because Queen Serenity had shown them that they weren't worth hurting others over suddenly seemed to matter more. Brows began to furrow and frowns began to appear.

"Oh!" gasped a woman who had been staring at Danguro and turned too late to see someone waiting to cross the street.

"Watch where you're going!" growled the man, his morning euphoria dissipated.

"There's no need to snap!" the woman barked, her own bliss smothered.

"You bumped into me!"

"DON'T TAKE THAT TONE OF VOICE WITH ME!"

And she slapped him, viciously. The man gritted his teeth, his anger clearly welling up. Then he reached out and struck her with his fist. Several people nearby began to shout angrily at the man or fling derision on the woman. His rage focused only on her, the man stood over her, daring her to attack. She took the dare and lashed out with her foot, slamming it into her attacker's knee. He howled in pain and staggered, but didn't fall. The woman tried to rise, but he pushed her down again and raised his foot as if to stomp on her.

"Venus Love Me Chain!" echoed through the mob, followed by a chain of golden heart-shaped links. It magically encircled the man around his torso, pinning his arms and allowing Sailor Venus to drag him away from his intended victim. He stumbled backward, then tumbled to the pavement on his bottom.

To the surprise of the senshi, the woman scrambled to her feet and lunged at the bound man. Her intent was clear in her eyes, that being to tear this man limb from limb.

"Whoa, chill!" Venus said, catching the woman about chest high and restraining her. She ignored the senshi and rabidly pulled to get free, her concentration on the man bound in the Love Me Chain. "Hey, calm down! We can work this out, you know! Peace and love and all that! Just like Serenity says!"

"To Hell with Serenity!" the woman roared in blind rage. "She doesn't own me!"

"Let her go!" bellowed the man as he struggled in the Love Me Chain. "If I get loose from this chain, Bitch, I'll kill you!"

"Not if I kill you first, you Bastard!" she bellowed back.

It was all Venus could do to hold onto her. That was surprising enough, as she was a veteran senshi and the woman she held was barely five feet tall and could not have weighed over ninety pounds. What was more surprising, Venus could hear yells and catcalls from the mob surrounding them that were as ugly as anything she'd heard in years and growing uglier by the moment.

Shifting the woman in her grasp, Venus brought her right forearm across the woman's throat and grasped along the shoulder muscle near the base of the neck with her right hand. Her left forearm braced against the side of the woman's head, her hand spread against the forehead, and stretched the neck out as much as she safely could. Applied pressure pinched the nerves in the neck and the carotid artery and the woman suddenly went limp in the senshi's arms. Venus gently eased her to the pavement.

"Well, that's one way to end an argument," Venus quipped.

"Uh, Venus," Artemis hissed, eyeing the mob warily, "this crowd is getting surly."

"Maybe I should do a few songs to . . ." Venus began.

Out of nowhere a rock glanced off of her temple. Artemis was instantly alert as Venus staggered, but kept her feet. The incident seemed to incite the mob even more.

"Venus!" the cat called. He was about to ask her how she was, but he saw her straighten up. Her hand was pressed to her temple and red rivulets stained her white glove. That was bad enough, but the expression on her face was what really caught the cat short.

"Who did that?" growled Sailor Venus. Her blue eyes were narrowed and her lips were thin.

"I did," proclaimed a forty-one year old who fit the centuries old stereotype of the Japanese salaryman. "Were you going to do something about it?" With a little less hair and a few more pounds, he could have resembled Minako's long-dead father. He stepped forward belligerently while the mob cackled and hooted.

And suddenly Venus saw red.

"CRESCENT BEAM!" she roared, pointing directly at him.

The energy beam shot out from her extended index finger and struck the salaryman chest high. He was lifted off the pavement and carried forty-two feet away, into hover car traffic before gravity pulled him down and deposited him on the pavement. Artemis stared at Venus in shock. The mob, meanwhile, became even more menacing.

"Anybody else want some?" she snapped, daring them all to attack. When the mob didn't back down fast enough, Venus shot another Crescent Beam into the body of the mob, bowling over ordinary citizens like they were pins in an alley. That put fear into the rest of the combatants and they began to back away. But Venus whirled on the ones behind her, looking like she was moments away from striking.

"Venus! What are you doing? Stop it!" Artemis yelled. He grabbed onto her ankle to try to get her attention. However, a violent shake of her leg sent the white cat rolling away.

"ROLLING HEART VIB . . .!" she began. But Venus was interrupted when Artemis leaped up and landed on her chest high. He sunk his claws into her sailor kerchief and shoved his face into hers.

"VENUS, DON'T!" he yelled.

Venus glared down at him and it looked for a moment as if she would attack him. Then the moment passed and with it her anger. As it drained out of her, the senshi seemed confused.

"A-Artemis?" she gaped. Then her disorientation passed and was replaced by the shock of recognition when she remembered what she had done. Her eyes wide with horror, Venus cupped her hand to her mouth. "Oh my . . . I - I was . . . I was going to . . .!"

"Venus, what happened?" Artemis demanded.

"I don't know. I got angry when that rock hit me," Venus mumbled, "and then it's like my anger just took control of me. I couldn't think. All I could do was be angry." Just then CDP hover cars rolled up to the scene. "Great. NOW they show up."

"I called them," Artemis told her. "After we're done here, we need to tell the others about this. Maybe Ami, Rei or the Queen can get some sort of clue from it."

"Do we have to?" Venus grimaced. "It's not exactly my most shining moment, you know?"

"Hey, they've seen all your movies," Artemis jabbed, "so they've already seen your MOST embarrassing moments."

"Watch it, Fuzzy Butt," frowned Venus, thought inside she took the humor gratefully.

And down the street from the incident, Danguro stared at his reflection in the side of a parked silver hover craft, oblivious to everything happening around him. He stared at his now emaciated, cadaverous body. At first the sight of it was a shock to him. He looked so death-like and inhuman.

And then her voice purred in his ear. She told him it was a good thing, that it was one more way that he was above mere humanity now.

And he believed her.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. And The Darkness Shall Spread

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 6: "And The Darkness Shall Spread"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Sosuke nodded to the gatekeeper at the front gate of the Crystal Palace as he strolled in. The youth willed himself to be calm, for if he was calm and didn't look like he'd been doing anything wrong, the gatekeeper wouldn't suspect anything. After all, he'd just come on shift at six a.m. and wouldn't realize that Sosuke had been out for more than just a brisk morning walk. Knowing his adoptive parents, he had about twenty-five minutes until Endymion woke up and hours before Serenity was up. With a bit of luck, he could be back in his room and no one would know he'd been out and about since four a.m. If only he didn't run into Luna, he'd be scot free.

"Where have you been?"

It wasn't the voice he was expecting, but it was the voice of discovery just the same. Sosuke turned around and found Yoko standing in the hall, the eleven year old girl's arms folded over her chest and her young face trying to approximate the expression of a stern parent.

"Shh!" Sosuke gestured, then looked around for signs of Luna. "I went out. Don't worry about it."

"You've been gone since four!" Yoko hissed.

Fearing discovery at any moment and knowing his adoptive sister was like a pit bull when her righteous indignation was up, Sosuke gestured for her to follow and the pair headed for the cafeteria. Sitting across from her at a table, Sosuke hunched his shoulders and leaned in so only she could hear.

"I was out with Kunihiko and Touya," Sosuke told her grudgingly. The youth hoped that would suffice as an explanation. When he saw it wouldn't, he sighed. "We were in the park. Kunihiko had his laser generator and we were looking at holographic images."

"Of naked girls, no doubt," Yoko replied scornfully.

"Don't worry about what the subject matter was," Sosuke scowled.

"So why do you have to do it in the middle of the night?"

"The holograms look best in the dark," Sosuke told her. Then he smiled at the memory. "They just sort of - - of glow in the dark. It's like they're - - ethereal woodland spirits. They're so beautiful." Realizing he was revealing too much, the youth pulled back. "It's not the same in the daytime."

"So why can't you just turn the lights off in your room?" Yoko inquired.

"It's not the same!" he snapped. Embarrassed by his outburst, the young man shied. "You wouldn't understand."

"Why not? I get better grades than you!" huffed Yoko.

"Because you're still a little kid."

Yoko glared at him. She hated those words. They were such a put-down.

"I suppose you're going to tattle on me now," grumped Sosuke.

"I ought to," Yoko snapped. "You used to be such a nice person. But anymore . . .!"

"Look, I'm sorry about that, OK?" Sosuke interjected. He wouldn't look at her. "I don't mean to be. It's just - - you are still a kid - - and you don't understand. And you won't - - not for two or three years yet." He continued to look away, not wanting to seem too vulnerable. "But you're still my sis."

Yoko softened.

"Don't tell, huh?" he asked. "We're not doing anything wrong except being out after curfew. That's part of what makes it fun."

"Are you going to do it again?" Yoko ventured.

"I don't know. Maybe," Sosuke said. Then he let out a frustrated exhalation. "Go ahead and tell if you want. I'm a man now. Guess I got to face up to it like a man. That's what Papa always tells me."

He got up and left. Yoko followed him with her gaze, all the time wondering what had caused this monumental change in her adoptive brother and what course she should choose that would hurt them both the least.

* * *

"Thank you for keeping me informed, Chief," Endymion said to the video image of Daisuke Imamura, his hand-picked chief of the Central Defense and Protection Department.

Imamura, fifty-seven, was a career officer in the department and a fine administrator. That's what the CDP needed, because for nearly a century the need for a police force in the old-fashioned sense diminished more every year. The CDP's main functions now were public assistance rather than law enforcement. They investigated accidents, mediated public disagreements and assisted citizens in need. Serenity led by example rather than law and her unique ability to appeal to a person's desire to make her happy usually meant people followed her example.

Endymion sat back and pondered the news for a moment. Imamura had little experience dealing with crime in the old-fashioned sense. And from the statistics that had come through over the past two days, that's what had suddenly reappeared in the former paradise called Crystal Tokyo. He wondered if Imamura was capable of handling things or if it might be necessary to take command of the CDP himself.

Rising from his chair, Endymion left his computer room and headed for the Royal Chambers. Since it was nearly nine a.m., he figured he'd check in on his wife and try to rouse her one more time, provided Luna hadn't already managed it. But upon entering the chamber, he found to his surprise that Serenity was up, dressed and preparing to go somewhere.

"You're up?" Endymion voice his surprise.

"I couldn't sleep," Serenity replied. Endymion flashed back to a mental picture of her at seven that morning, dead to the world and drooling on her pillow, and smiled. Then he spotted the far away look on her face.

"Something disturbed you?"

"Something's wrong, Endymion," Serenity sighed. "I don't know what it is, but I keep getting this sense of-of dread. I was headed over to Ami's office to talk it over with her and Rei."

"I'll join you," Endymion said. Blushing slightly, though happily, Serenity extended her hand. Endymion took it and the couple headed out.

In Ami's office, she had Minako up on an examination table and was scanning her with a handheld medical scanner. A computer display over Minako's head listed all vital physiological measurements. Off to the side, Rei and Makoto watched.

"Well, I've done a complete scan of Minako's cranial area, but I'm not finding anything," Ami reported, absorbed in her scans.

"I could have told you that," Rei remarked, smiling with evil intent. Makoto let out a loud snort. Minako remained silent, but did make a rude gesture.

"What?" Ami asked, the remark just registering. She turned away from her scanner and looked at Rei, then reviewed the last few remarks. "Oh. That was an unfortunate choice of words on my part, wasn't it?"

"That's my Ami," grinned Makoto. "She'll always get a joke - - eventually."

Ami blushed.

"If you three are through trashing my reputation," Minako interjected, "any idea why I went off the deep end yet?"

"I can't find any internal or external cause for sudden, irrational behavior such as you and Artemis described," Ami frowned.

"Well you just got hit in the head with a rock," Makoto shrugged. "Maybe you just lost it."

"I don't 'lose it'," Minako said firmly. "Especially in a combat situation."

"And remember, Makoto, she wasn't the only person experiencing that sort of sudden behavior change in this situation," Ami reminded them. "I looked at the CDP report of the incident. Everyone questioned in the incident were upstanding citizens with little or no previous recorded violent behavior."

"Do you ever sleep?" Rei asked Ami, incredulous as to her industriousness.

"Only when forced," Makoto replied.

"To the subject at hand," Ami interjected, adjusting her glasses. "The evidence in the CDP report, coupled with what Minako and Artemis told me, indicate an external force acting on the population. Couple that evidence with CDP statistics that say violent assault was up seven percent in the city yesterday, as well as a sudden reappearance of theft, robbery and even rape makes me even more certain of my hypothesis." She scowled at her scanner. "But if there is evidence of an external influence, my scans can't find it."

Rei suddenly turned. The others followed and they saw Serenity and Endymion standing in the doorway. Serenity seemed visibly upset.

"You heard?" Makoto asked.

"We did," Endymion nodded. "And I have even more disturbing statistics. CDP saw a three-fold increase last night from all of their daytime statistics."

"Wow," Minako said. "It's like this whole city is losing its mind."

"Temporary insanity on that wide a scale is hardly probable," Ami countered.

"I wish I could tell you something," Rei told them. "But since that dream, I haven't been able to come up with anything other than a general sense of - - well . . ."

"Contamination," Serenity said. Rei looked at her, surprised.

"Now that you mention it, yes," the priest replied. "What have you been feeling?"

"Just that," Serenity frowned. "It's nothing I can put my finger on. It's like - - it's like a dark cloud has descended over the city, polluting it."

"Like a fog," Rei whispered, faraway.

"That's what you dreamed, wasn't it?" Makoto asked. Rei nodded. "Then Serenity represented the city and the threat's to Crystal Tokyo, not her."

"The threat's definitely to the city," Rei said. "There may still be a threat to her. Dream premonitions can have multiple layers."

"If only we knew who was causing this," Makoto grumbled.

"Well, I've got my computer working on it," Endymion told them. "It's downloaded all the footage from the surveillance drones of every reported CDP incident. I instructed it to analyze the footage and list recurring people, places or incident similarities." He sighed with exhaustion. "Then I'll review them."

"I thought that was what the CDP was for," Serenity said, turning to him. "Endymion, don't feel you have to do this yourself."

"I concur," Ami added. "We all acknowledge your position as guardian of the city, but you're not the only guardian and you don't have to do this alone."

"The CDP are also studying the surveillance images," Endymion said. "They might very well see something I don't. But the reverse is true as well and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't try." Serenity was giving him the fisheye. "I'll be in bed by eleven, I swear."

"I've heard that before," Serenity grumbled, her arms crossed over her chest. Endymion pecked her on the cheek.

"The rest of you continue exploring this problem from your ends," Endymion told them. "The sooner we can get a handle on this problem, the better it'll be for everyone - - particularly the innocent people out there who are potential future victims."

Instantly Serenity's demeanor changed, to everyone's surprise. Once more she went pale and put her hand to her temple, in obvious distress. Endymion touched her shoulder.

"Another death?" he asked incredulously.

Serenity nodded. "Endymion, this HAS to stop"

* * *

Danguro sat on the floor of the darkened living room in the strange abode. All the shades were drawn and all the lights were dimmed. Danguro liked the darkness. He couldn't recall liking the darkness all that much before, but those were memories of his old life. His old life didn't matter anymore.

Neither did the corpse laying in the other room. It was the body of the man who used to live in this dwelling. Danguro had picked the dwelling at random when the day's sun was at its highest, then killed the man when he returned home. Danguro needed a place to escape the day. Light made him less than what he was and he preferred to escape it and meditate.

Something fell by his knee in the darkness. Vaguely aware of it, he bent forward and picked it up, examining it in the shadows. It was another piece of his dry, dead skin that had flaked off and fallen away.

"What are you thinking?" he heard "her" ask. She lived within him now, within the obsidian crystal that now rested in his chest. As she spoke, Danguro could feel her ghostly hands caress his cheek and for a few precious moments he thrilled.

"I was recalling everything that's happened since you touched me," he said - - or thought - - or both. It didn't really matter so long as she heard him. "Everywhere I went - - there was fear. Anarchy and chaos in a place that is supposedly free of such things. I don't understand."

"Do you dislike it?"

"No," Danguro quickly responded. "I liked it. It was exhilarating. It was delicious irony, that a society of such hypocrisy is finally ripping itself apart at the seams - - while I live on. I just don't understand why it's happening now."

"It's because of you."

"Me?" he asked.

"You are the perfect conduit through which my corruption may flow. You match to me. You are symmetry to me. We have merged into a greater self. Everyone you touch, everyone you pass is influenced by our power. We reach out and corrupt all those who have fallen under Serenity's sway. When they fear, we are there to augment their fears. When they are angry, we are there to fan their flames. When they lust, we are there to goad them on. Be proud. I could not do this without you."

Danguro thought about this.

"Do you love me?" he inquired.

"I am not capable of love. But you are precious to me and I in turn may do things for you. Through you, I can gain victory. Through me, you may achieve power and status like unto a god. These are things you desire in your secret place. They are within your grasp now. Anything you wish can be yours for the taking."

"Crystal Tokyo?" he asked.

"Bigger."

"All the world?" Danguro asked.

"The universe. Clear your mind."

Danguro did as she asked. For a moment it felt like his chest was cold like the icy hand of death was upon him. Startled and intimidated, his eyes flew open. In his hands lay a ball of pure clear crystal. It was smooth and about the size of a bowling ball, yet it had little weight to it.

"Did you fear? You need not. You are my body and together we mean to corrupt the universe. No harm will come to you if it is within my power to prevent it."

"What is it?" Danguro asked.

"Clear your mind. Let our power flow through it."

Obeying, Danguro was surprised when the ball levitated until it was roughly equa-distant between his hands and his chest. The center of the ball was no longer clear. First it became cloudy, then darkly so.

"Move your hands as if you caress me, but do not touch the ball."

Doing as instructed, Danguro saw the ball emit a faint black fog that spread out from him.

"That is our power manifested. It seeks out the corruption that lays dormant beneath this facade of peace. It brings that corruption to the surface. Through that, we will gain what we want."

Danguro felt his heart swell.

"Your old life is gone. You are beyond it now. You have ascended. You have become greater than what you were. Accept it. Become one with me and together we shall corrupt everything. What say you?"

Danguro stared into the ball as if hypnotized. A faint glow reflected back upon his cadaverous, darkness-shrouded face. His lips pulled back into a smile.

"If Danguro is my past, I'll need a new name," he mused.

* * *

The four women who were Queen Serenity's faithful senshi and lifelong friends walked down the hall. They had been summoned to Endymion's computer room. This was rare. Endymion used the room as much as a refuge from the pressures of running a country as he did a central hub to watch his city for signs of trouble. People were rarely summoned to the room and Serenity only came there when she grew tired of one of her husband's prolonged absences.

"What do you suppose this is about?" Makoto wondered aloud what the others wondered privately.

"Perhaps he's found something concerning the recent rash of violence in the city," Ami speculated.

"Maybe he's finally found that copy of 'Girls Gone Wild' that has Rei in it," Minako joked.

"Assuming I ever debased myself like that," Rei shot back, "it's still better than anything YOU did."

The four were passed through the door automatically. They found Endymion sitting at his vast computer console, looking at a monitor. Ami instantly came up next to him, her curiosity piqued. The others followed close behind, for they too had curious streaks, though not nearly as large as Ami's. On the screen were five sections with pictures of the same cadaverous man in five different parts of the city.

"I don't recognize that horror flick," Minako said, staring intently enough to memorize the scene.

"That's because these aren't clips from a movie," Endymion replied.

"THAT'S REAL?" Makoto gasped.

"And I was going to say the makeup and effects were pretty lousy," Minako added.

"Obviously your search for like factors in the violent acts came up with this," Ami judged.

"He's not at every incident," Endymion told them, "but he's at more incidents than anyone or anything else - - by a wide margin."

Makoto noticed Rei staring. "Got something, Rei?"

"He's connected," Rei said breathlessly. "I don't know how or why, but I can feel it."

"What happened to him? He looks like the walking dead!" Minako said.

"That's a detail we'll have to determine later," Ami replied. "Have you been able to backtrack his path on your surveillance monitors and find a dwelling or identity?"

"I have. He comes out of a dwelling registered to a Danguro Fujita. I cross-referenced with CDP and found two officers had already been dispatched to that dwelling to investigate the murder of a manager at a computer programming office Fujita worked at. The officers turned up dead."

"Ding, we have a winner," Minako said grimly.

"CDP backtracked further and found another body, that of a physician named Sonomi Kono. Surveillance footage and reception records puts him in her office about the time of her death - - and considerably more robust looking."

"Interesting," Ami nodded and everyone could see the wheels turning in her head.

"One more interesting fact," Endymion told them. "According to public health records that I accessed, Fujita was diagnosed with Lateral Radiation Toxicity."

"How advanced?" gasped Ami. The others looked at her, surprised by her adamance.

"Far enough along to be concerned," Endymion replied.

"That might explain the way he looks," Minako advanced.

"Impossible," Ami shook her head. "LRT wouldn't manifest like that."

"Possession? Some demon is using him as a host?" Rei speculated.

"An excellent question. Perhaps if we can track this man down, we'll find our answers," Endymion said.

"We'll get right on it," Minako proclaimed. The others nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," Endymion said. "But please be careful. This - - entity - - has already killed several times."

Minako flashed him a "v" sign as she and the others departed.

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. Appointment With Destiny

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 7: "Appointment With Destiny"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Making sure the door to his room was locked, Sosuke opened the top drawer of his clothing storage unit and pulled a crystal out from under his socks. The crystal was aqua with white highlights where the light of the room caught it and refracted. For a moment, Sosuke wondered if he was tempting fate by using the crystal in the Palace instead of the relative anonymity of the park. But the urge to view what was embedded on the crystal was just too great. He had to view it again. It felt like he would die if he didn't.

At Sosuke's command, the environmental control computer cut the lights and plunged the room into darkness. Taking the projector that Kunihiko had built for him out of his pocket, the fourteen year old youth plunged the crystal into it. When the connection was established with the holographic interface, the projector signaled with a flashing light. Sosuke pointed the projector out before him and pressed the play stud.

Immediately a three-dimensional image of Rei Hino stood before him. She was dressed in her blue and white priest's robes. Her long black hair cascaded down her back, catching the light from an imaginary source and gleaming. Her violet eyes locked with his as her small mouth smiled warmly. Sosuke felt his breath quicken. It was so real, like she was standing in the dark with him, smiling only for him. Kunihiko was a genius. To be able to create a hologram this lifelike from just one stereoptic photo was amazing.

The hologram reacted as programmed to an unheard question. Rei's expression took on that slightly cross-eyed look she got whenever something momentarily surprised or perplexed her. Sosuke recognized the expression from growing up around the priest. It was so endearingly Rei Hino. The expression melted into one of embarrassed gratitude as the picture gazed at Sosuke. Almost shyly Rei nodded.

Then she began to move, shimmying around as she fiddled with her belt. The dance was slow, swaying, hypnotic. As she turned her back to Sosuke, the robe fell away from her left shoulder. She peeked back at him, a coquette's realization in her eyes of what was happening. The dance continued, the priest ever so graceful, demanding his attention. And the robe began to fall away, a little more as she turned, a little more as she swayed.

Sosuke felt his chest tighten so much that it was hard to breathe. Her skin was so soft. Her shape was so perfect, even partially obscured by the robes that still clung to the lower half of her. And her face - - she was a goddess. Why had it taken him all these years to realize it? He was so stupid.

And she was so lovely.

The robes dropped down, flashing glimpses of the long, elegant legs that she possessed and showed only when she wasn't a priest, during those times when she and the other senshi would go out on the town and be girl friends again. She stepped out of the robes as they puddled on the floor, again without a misstep, without a wasted motion. She was grace personified.

Then the dance ended. Rei Hino stood before him, her long black hair billowing slightly behind her and her pure naked perfection there for him and him alone to see. She extended her arms slightly. She was magnificent, more than he could ever deserve. Sosuke licked his dry lips reflexively. He looked into the hologram's face. For all the wonder of seeing Rei Hino naked, this was his favorite part. The way she looked at him was his favorite part, for it wasn't the way Rei had looked at him for all the years he'd lived in the palace, as an aunt would look upon a familiar relative. She looked at him like he was a man, a desirable man, a man who had more than a chance to love her and be with her. Sosuke swallowed.

And the hologram ended. Sosuke shivered. If only it could be real and not just a hologram.

His computer signaled an in-coming message and Sosuke nearly wet himself from the shock. His hands shaking, he put up the lights and crossed over to the computer. The youth sat down because he wasn't sure his knees would hold him up any longer. The program engaged and Kunihiko's face appeared on the screen.

"You been playing the crystal again, huh?" Kunihiko smiled.

"What makes you say that?" Sosuke replied defensively.

"Because you've got that same look you had last night when you first saw it. And I thought you were going to blow last night."

Sosuke replied with a rude gesture and Kunihiko chuckled.

"Just wanted to call and tell you," Kunihiko continued, "I've got another crystal done."

"I-Is it Hino-Sensei?" Sosuke gasped.

"No. I've already done Hino-Sensei. I don't like to repeat myself."

"Then who is it?"

"Show up at the park tonight and find out," Kunihiko chuckled, shoving back the stubborn bangs in his eyes with his hand.

"Not four again?" Sosuke protested. "It was hard enough waking up the last time."

"Sorry, but that was the only time I could get away. Tonight'll be easier. How's nine sound?"

"I'll try to be there."

"You make it sound difficult."

"Hey, I live in the palace with four trained senshi AND Luna! And my sister's getting suspicious, too."

"Your sister will be asleep at nine. And Luna's only a cat." Kunihiko disconnected.

"Only a cat," snorted the youth. "You don't know Luna"

* * *

"YOU TWO-TIMING, LYING, CONNIVING - - OHHH!" Sakura bellowed as she emerged from the room and into the palace hall. She stormed down the hall as her fiancé, Hojo,entered the hall from the same room.

"WOULD YOU STOP BEING EMOTIONAL AND LISTEN TO REASON!" Hojo roared after her. Several people in the corridor stopped and looked on with shock.

"THERE'S NOTHING TO LISTEN TO BESIDES MORE OF YOUR LIES AND STORIES! I HATE YOU!"

"I WISH I'D NEVER AGREED TO MARRY YOU!"

"THAT'S FINE WITH ME!"

"FINE!" snapped Hojo.

"FINE!" Sakura howled. She jerked the engagement ring off of her finger and flung it down the hall at her intended. Hojo turned in disgust and disappeared back into the room. Sakura turned away from the room, angry tears welling, and started down the hall.

That's when she ran smack into her "Grandma-cubed".

"Sakura?" Makoto gasped, holding the woman at arms length. She could see Sakura was confused, upset and angry. "What happened?"

"Grandma Makoto," Sakura said, realizing just now who held her. Overcome by her anger and grief, the woman folded into Makoto and began angrily crying on her chest. "Oh, I never want to see him again! He's so horrible! I hate him! I HATE HIM!"

"Hate who, Hojo?"

"YES!"

"What happened?"

Realizing that people were looking, Makoto led her descendant to an empty room. Away from prying eyes, she sat Sakura down, then sat next to her. As she had for four hundred years whenever a family crisis sprang up, Makoto's arm went around Sakura and she leaned in with motherly compassion.

"Now what happened?" she asked Sakura.

Sakura thought. As she searched through her memory for why she and Hojo were fighting, Sakura wiped her tears from her face. It upset her that she could still cry this easily even at twenty. Makoto waited patiently as Sakura thought, ready to aid her in any way she could.

"He's - - he doesn't love me," Sakura said finally.

"How do you know that?"

"He can't," Sakura replied quickly. "He still thinks of me as that little girl that always annoyed him."

"Did he say this?" Makoto prodded. Sakura shook her head. "Then what are you basing this on? He wants to marry you."

"He doesn't love me! He's laughing at me! He's going to marry me and then chase after every woman in Crystal Tokyo while I'm home chained to the kids!"

"Sakura, do you know how crazy that sounds?" Makoto asked her. "I've known Hojo almost all his life. He'd never do anything like that."

"He would! He's not what you think!" fumed Sakura. "He insulted me, right to my face!"

"What did he say?"

"He said I was a 'silly goose'!" wailed Sakura. Makoto just stared at her incredulously. And slowly Sakura seemed to realize just what she'd said. Her furor quelled. Her tears stopped. She just stared at nothing for the longest time. "We - - we were discussing colors - - for the floral arrangements. I wanted fuschia and he preferred lavender. And - - I made a joke. I suggested iridescent green - - and he called me a silly goose."

Her hands flew to her mouth.

"Grandma Makoto!" she gasped. "What have I done? It's like something possessed me! All of a sudden I was shouting out the nastiest accusations! I couldn't think! I was just so angry!" Sakura dissolved into hysterical tears. "Oh, I've driven him away forever!"

"Not if he really loves you," Makoto whispered, choking on the emotion in her throat as she hugged Sakura to her. "You'd be amazed at what love will put up with if it's deep enough. Take it from someone who's been around long enough to have seen just about everything."

"But why? Why would I do something like that?"

"We're working on that," Makoto told her, "your aunts and me. It's not your fault, Sakura, and it's not Hojo's. Now come on - - let's go get your ring back."

"No!" gasped Sakura in mortification. "I-I couldn't face him!"

"You leave that to Grandma Cubed," Makoto assured her.

Answering the summons angrily, Hojo found Makoto at the door. Briefly rage flared in his eyes, but he quickly got it under control.

"Hojo, I need a few minutes of your time," Makoto said, calmly but with the undercurrent of forcefulness that came with her legendary fighting prowess. "I need to explain something to you. If you want to kick me out afterwards, I'll go willingly."

Reluctantly the young man allowed Makoto to come in. Down the hall, out of sight from the door, Sakura stood. She leaned back against the wall and fearfully contemplated a life without her Hojo. The only thing that kept her spirits from collapsing totally was the faith she had in her famous ancestor. If anyone could work a miracle and pull this out, it was her remarkable "Grandma Cubed" Makoto. As the seconds ticked by into minutes, Sakura stood and wondered and hoped - - and worried.

"Sakura," she heard Makoto's voice say. Fearfully she turned to it. Hojo was behind her, his belligerence gone, his head stooped by regret. "Hojo understands what happened."

"Hojo," Sakura squeaked. "I am so sorry for everything I said. Please believe me, I didn't mean a word of it!"

"I believe you," he said softly, unable to look at her. "I don't know what came over me, either. Well, now I know, as far as your - - um, Ikegami-San explained it. I mean . . ." Fumbling with his feelings, Hojo finally reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He extended his hand and her engagement ring was in it. With some effort he drew enough courage to look at her. "If you still want this - - it would make me very happy."

Sakura broke into a run and dived into Hojo's arms. The couple kissed desperately.

Makoto saw it peripherally. She was happy for them, but she was more concerned now than ever about what was causing this to happen.

* * *

"I've got to do something, Luna," Serenity said as she and her cat and trusted confidant looked out over Crystal Tokyo from one of the upper balconies of the palace. From their vantage point, the city looked as serene as ever. But Serenity could sense the turmoil bubbling in and around the stoic dwellings and structures that comprised the city, and Luna knew to trust Serenity's feelings where the emotions of her people were concerned.

"I fully sympathize, Your Majesty," Luna told her, looking up at the pensive queen while the sun began to set in the west. "But without knowing who or what is causing this growing problem, any effort you make would simply be lashing out blindly and hoping you succeeded. You must trust in the king and your senshi to do their jobs to the best of their ability and run this phenomenon to ground."

"I do trust them," Serenity protested meekly. "But I can feel the turmoil. It's growing, Luna. Every minute it seems to get bigger and stronger. Too many people's lives have already been disrupted by this wave of hatred, anger and violence. I just can't ignore it!"

"Your Majesty, you've always ruled with your heart," Luna sighed. "That's often stood you in good stead. But in this case, I think logic must rule over desire and logic dictates that you can't act until you know who or what you must act against."

Serenity didn't answer. She merely got that sad, pensive expression that Luna recognized all too well. The Queen didn't want to give in to Luna's argument, but she didn't have a convincing counter-argument. Usually when that happened, she waited for Luna to leave and then did what she wanted anyway. In response, the cat sat down and curled her tail around her back legs to show she wasn't moving.

"Smartie," Serenity mumbled.

The door hissed open and both of them turned to see who entered. Endymion was framed by the door. They could tell the news he bore wasn't good news.

"Have you found something?" Serenity asked, ever the optimist.

"We tracked surveillance footage of Fujita as far as a residential neighborhood, but the observation cameras lost track of him. Mars and Venus are searching the area, but haven't reported any luck so far." He seemed to want to say more, but didn't know how.

"Go on, Endymion," Serenity bid him, putting up a brave front.

"Well," he sighed. "The situation is getting worse. CDP crime statistics are nearly double from yesterday. Violent crime is especially on the rise. And reports I'm getting tell me that it's no longer localized to Crystal Tokyo. I'm getting reports from mainland Asia, Australia,  
and the Independent Pacific Island States of similar rises. Whatever's causing this is getting stronger."

"That's it," Serenity replied resolutely. "I have to do something. I can't just stand by and see this happen." The Queen turned and looked out over the city, her hands clutching the railing for support.

"Your Majesty?" Luna asked warily. "What are you planning?"

Heedless of the cat's query, Serenity closed her eyes. Mechanically her hands came up to her chest and cupped roughly a foot apart. The woman took on a silvery glow, then the Silver Crystal emerged from a warp in space in her chest. Serenity's head lolled back slightly.

"People of Crystal Tokyo," Luna and Endymion, and everyone else heard in their minds, "people of Earth. This is Serenity. Please give me a moment of your time. I have something I must ask of you"

* * *

As dusk approached, Danguro moved toward the door of the dwelling he'd taken shelter in. With the light fading, he could feel his power growing even more than it had. The crystal sphere helped. It drew dark energy from the violence and hatred around him, feeding it into the obsidian crystal within him, then helped to focus the energy he released that exacerbated the hatred and jealousy and all the other little insecurities in people and stifled the inhibitions they had against giving in to such things. Serenity had taught them how to bury such emotions. Now he was teaching them how to use them again and as it did, he grew stronger.

And as he grew stronger, she grew stronger.

She no longer spoke to him, but Danguro knew she was there. He was grateful for that. She had given him so much. She had raised him to such a higher plateau that his previous life seemed so insignificant now. To think he was once upset that death was to call upon him. He was so blind. But she had lifted the dark glasses from his eyes and presented new vistas of power for him to see. She had done so much for him.

And in return, he would present her with the universe - - wrapped in an onyx bow.

Passing through the wall into the outside, as physical barriers no longer had any meaning to him, Danguro concentrated on the crystal sphere. It levitated between his cupped hands, feeding him dark emotions so he might convert it into darker energy. Several people on the street turned to look in amazement at the skeletally thin man floating in the air before them. Then suddenly one of the onlookers turned angrily on another and struck him, shouting something about a vague offense. The other struck back. Soon the two were rolling on the sidewalk,kicking and gouging, while other spectators ran in fear, pursued hungrily by what moments ago were normal citizens. Danguro smiled.

Then a wave of energy buffeted him. The fighting calmed. Danguro struggled to remain aloft as the combatants backed away from each other in shock and dismay. What was that energy, he wondered. Where had it come from?

"People of Crystal Tokyo," he heard in his mind, a soft voice of hope and charity that was like sandpaper on his skin, "people of Earth. This is Serenity. Please give me a moment of your time. I have something I must ask of you."

Danguro looked up, as everyone did, his attention drawn to the palace. There on the top balcony, something glowed silver. It was warm and inviting. It radiated power, unimaginable power, but it also radiated a strength born of peace and good will. The citizens all looked up to the silver light, drawn to it, needing its gentle caress. Danguro looked, too.

"Pretty," he murmured absently. Then his smile grew malevolent. "I want it."

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. Get Thee Behind Me Temptation

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 8: "Get Thee Behind Me, Temptation"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Queen Serenity stood on the balcony of the top floor of the Crystal Palace and looked out onto the city beneath her. Her eyes were open now, but the Silver Crystal was still cupped before her chest, shining out across the city and lighting up the dusk. Within the palace, Endymion and Luna watched her, once again in awe at the tremendous power that Serenity kept wrapped in the velvet cloth of charity and benevolence. Throughout the city, citizens looked up at the light and felt the warmth of their queen and benefactor.

"People of Crystal Tokyo," they all heard her say in their minds, "people of Earth. This is Serenity. Please give me a moment of your time. I have something I must ask of you."

Serenity gathered herself, telling herself that she must be strong for them, for even after four hundred years it was still hard sometimes for her to believe that people would actually want to listen and follow what she had to say.

"A darkness has spread over us," she told them. "Perhaps you've sensed it. Perhaps you've only felt angry or violent and wondered why. This darkness is tempting your lesser sides, making you feel bitter or fearful, or contemptuous of your fellow human. Please resist this urge,I beg of you. Violence and hatred is never the way to peace and profit. Surely recent history proves that, if nothing else does. We have come so far as a race only by putting aside such things and working together in harmony. Please resist the urge to fall back into bad ways. And never think that you're alone in your struggle. I am here, and I vow I will lend you all the strength I'm able. We need not face this alone and we need not give into our darker sides. Feel me and know that a better way is forever in your hearts, just as I hope I am."

Her shoulders slumped with fatigue. The glowing jewel receded back into her chest. Serenity expelled a tired sigh and turned around.

"Most eloquently put, Your Majesty," Luna beamed. "It's moments such as this that earn you your title."

"Thank you, Luna," Serenity smiled softly. "But will it work?"

Endymion took her hands and gathered her up.

"It has for four hundred years," he smiled kindly. "You do have a way about you, my love."

And right on cue, Serenity's cheeks reddened as her mouth curled back in a shy smile.

Without warning, Endymion jerked Serenity to the side. Startled, the queen couldn't comprehend why, nor why he suddenly extended his cape between her and the edge of the balcony.

Then she was struck with an onyx energy. Despite Endymion's efforts to shield her from it, the energy passed through the cloak and struck Serenity chest high. The queen reeled back, robbed even of the ability to cry out, though she stared up at the ceiling, her eyes wide with pain and horror. Endymion caught her before she hit the floor, but Serenity was gasping for breath.

"SERENITY!" Endymion called out desperately.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" Luna shrieked with alarm.

"I'm," she gasped and swallowed, her senses a jumble. "I'm all right. It just - - surprised me."

"What was that?" Luna pondered aloud. The cat leaped up onto the balcony railing and looked in vain for the source of the blast.

"Evil," Serenity whispered. They both turned to look at her. "Cold, remorseless, contemptuous evil." Serenity's hand went to her throat as she stared ahead at nothing. "An evil I've - - felt before."

* * *

"Getting anything?" Venus asked.

"That's the fourth time you've asked that," Mars pointed out.

"You counted each time? Man, you're anal," Venus marveled.

"At least I can count," Mars scowled.

The pair walked on through the residential neighborhood.

"Getting anything?" Venus asked.

"You're doing this just to aggravate me, aren't you?" Mars glared.

"Well, duh!" laughed Venus. "Watching you boil is half the fun! And it's not like it's hard."

"Your latest boy toy is cheating on you," Mars replied.

"WHAT? NO WAY!" gasped Venus.

Mars merely smirked in triumph.

"Oh, you're gonna get it for that one," Venus smiled devilishly, assuming Mars said it just to provoke her as she was provoking Mars. Then her smile faded into a worried look. "Uh, you were just saying that, right?"

"There!" Mars suddenly said, pointing toward the next block and around the corner.

"No way. He doesn't know anybody in this neighborhood."

"A massive evil aura, Airhead!" Mars snapped. She charged forward, leaving Venus in the dust.

"I knew that," Venus devilishly grinned to herself.

Skidding to a stop around the corner, Venus saw what Mars saw. It was Danguro Fujita, levitating in a lotus position just as plain as day in front of a dwelling. If he was aware of them,or of anything else around him, he didn't acknowledge it. His concentration was totally in front and above him. Venus followed his line of sight and saw what he saw - - the balcony adjacent to the Royal Chambers atop the Palace of Crystal Tokyo.

As Venus assessed the situation, Mars already had one of her wards out and pressed to her forehead. Invoking the chant that activated its holy power, Mars took aim and threw. The ward sailed through the air like an arrow and struck Danguro on the upper right arm. He dipped slightly, but never took his eyes off of Serenity high above them in the palace.

At once the ward began to wither and curl up into itself. It finally burst into flame. At the moment of ignition, Mars fell back as if struck across the face. She landed awkwardly on her side, stunned. Venus knelt down next to her to help her up.

"What did he hit you with?" Venus inquired.

"Feedback from my ward," Mars replied, her hand to her head. "He brushed it aside like it was nothing. He's more powerful than I thought. He must be able to shield his power level from my sight." Mars grimaced as she tried to sort out her thoughts. "Something about it is familiar."

"Well you know what they say," Venus said grimly, standing to full height. "The bigger they are, the harder they hit back."

"We're doomed," Mars murmured.

"NO WOMAN LIKES SOME STRANGE GUY STARING AT HER, PERV!" Venus shouted as a challenge. "Rolling Heart Vibration!"

Golden energy formed around the senshi's hands, much like it did for her Love and Beauty Shock attack. This time the energy formed into a gigantic golden heart shape, then launched forward at almost sonic speed. The heart began to spin in the air and the revolutions created a shockwave beneath it that tore up pavement and rattled the earth around it. The heart energy roared up on Danguro in an eye-blink, but at the last moment was caught by a bubble of dark energy that appeared around him. The attack flattened and dissipated without injury to its target.

"Uh oh," Venus murmured, standing her ground valiantly.

"Mars Snake Fire!" Mars roared.

Venus felt the heat when Mars ignited behind her. The growing dusk was suddenly illuminated by a towering column of flame that transformed into a gigantic snake poised to strike. It bared its flaming fangs menacingly, then lunged forward. But once more the obsidian bubble flared around Danguro and dissipated the snake before any damage could be done.

"Damn it, what does it take to put this floating zombie down?" Venus howled angrily. Mars shot her an anxious glance.

"Venus, get hold of your emotions!" Mars ordered.

"You're not the boss of me!" Venus snapped back.

"Venus, he's affecting you, just like last time! He's bringing your darker emotions to the surface!"

"You think you're so smart!" Venus growled. Mars instantly noticed the golden energy coalescing around the woman's hands.

Whipping another ward out, Mars charged it and flung it at Venus. The ward struck Venus square between the eyes. The senshi flinched, then staggered back, grabbing at her head. She doubled over and froze. Suddenly the ward released and floated inertly to the ground. Venus straightened up, back to normal.

But Mars was left in a vulnerable position. A beam of dark energy lanced out and struck the senshi in the side. Mars screamed out in pain and crumpled. Instantly Venus was there to defend her.

"How bad?" she asked, standing between Danguro and her fallen comrade. Her attention was fully on him, though she risked a furtive glance at Mars.

"Feels like I've been kicked by a horse," Mars groaned.

"Take all the time you need," Venus told her. "Just don't make it more than three seconds if he looks at us again." Venus risked another glance at her. "Oh, and thanks for the save back there."

Feeling Danguro had dismissed them as no longer a threat, Venus pulled up her communicator watch and broadcast a call to Mercury and Jupiter for help.

* * *

Sosuke checked his watch. He was early for his appointment with Kunihiko in Naru Park. That fact didn't concern him very much. The fourteen year old had allowed himself extra time so he could sneak out of the palace without rushing. Fear of discovery was paramount in his thoughts. He was terrified of being discovered, of being shamed before his adoptive mother and father, his adoptive brothers and sisters, and all of the palace - - particularly Hino-sensei. If he had any sense at all, Sosuke would just forget all about Kunihiko's wondrous holograms and not take the risk.

But he couldn't. The urge within him was too great. The overwhelming desires suddenly within him seemed to control his every action anymore. He couldn't concentrate on his school work. The family he'd only been a part of for three years and that he so cherished were alien to him now and he knew it was he who had changed and not them. Everything in the universe seemed to suddenly lose importance with one exception. He was a slave to it. He wasn't strong enough to resist.

Feet thundered down the corridor and sent a deep chill down Sosuke's spine. He turned fearfully and saw Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter running toward him. His breath caught in his throat. Did they know? Sosuke sagged against the wall, his mind racing to come up with some explanation that would mitigate the humiliation of discovery and the scorn they would have for what he was. But it was as if he was suddenly incapable of constructing rational thought. He silently pleaded with the gods to make him invisible to them, to wipe him out of existence so he would never have to deal with the shame he would bring to himself and the family.

And the two senshi streaked by him without acknowledging him. Sosuke looked down at his hands on the off chance that he actually had become invisible. Then one of the palace maintenance workers stopped beside him.

"I hope they make it in time," he said, peripherally acknowledging Sosuke while maintaining his concern for the departing senshi.

"W-What's happening?" the youth asked.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "I heard there might be some trouble in one of the residential districts. You know how violence is up all around the city. The Royal Family has been locked up in their chambers all afternoon, ever since the Queen made that speech. The cats, too." He sighed. "I hope they've found what's causing it. It's getting so a person can't walk the streets at night anymore."

When Sosuke didn't keep the conversation up, the maintenance worker moved on. Sosuke turned the man's words over in his mind. Perhaps it might be better not to meet Kunihiko. If things weren't safe . . .

But he'd go. He could already feel his will weakening. It was the perfect chance. With the cats and the senshi busy and the security staff occupied with them, it was the perfect chance to sneak out cleanly. He might not get this good a chance again. And Kunihiko might have another holographic crystal with Hino-sensei on it. Temptation flooded through his body and overwhelmed his desire for safety. Sosuke glanced around to make sure he wasn't observed, then headed for an exit he knew he could slip out of.

* * *

Danguro hovered above the multitudes, disdainful of their very existence. They were nothing to him - - nothing save sustenance. His hands passed over and around the crystalline globe levitating between them and that action spread the obsidian energy out from him. As it affected more and more of those beneath him, their tempers would flare and their fears would leap to the surface of their minds. Fights broke out. Harsh words exploded. Chaos ensued. Within minutes a detachment of officers from the CDP arrived to control the mob scene, but they quickly fell under the influence of Danguro and his ebony mist. They soon joined in, fighting with those they sought to restrain, stealing from homes, destroying the very air cars they arrived in with an orgy of violence and fire, and ripping the clothes from innocent women.

And Danguro let the anger, fear and hatred flow into him and felt himself growing stronger.

Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars desperately tried to stem the tide of violence around them. It was difficult work and became more difficult as the mob grew. For every ward Mars produced, two more angry people seemed to rise up. Venus snared citizens with her Love Me Chain until she was exhausted. And as she tired, it because harder and harder to shove down the anger that kept wanting to rise up in her.

"How do you do it?" Venus panted, glancing at Mars as the senshi slapped another ward on another violent person.

"Do what?" Mars asked.

"Resist his influence? I've already caught myself wanting to rip somebody's head off half a dozen times! How do you do it?"

"My priest's training allows me to fend off his influence," Mars explained. A man lunged at her. She kicked him away, then slapped a ward on him.

"Wish I had priest training," muttered Venus.

"It's not as easy as it looks!" snapped Mars. "Remember, my temper is a lot worse than yours, so I've got a lot more to control!" Mars frowned, realizing her control had slipped. "Sorry about that."

"It's OK," Venus smirked. "You were making me feel inadequate for a little while there." An attacker lunged for her. Venus threw him down with a hip toss and Mars slapped a ward on him. "You're not going to run out of those, are you?"

"I hope not," Mars replied.

"MERCURY AQUA MIRAGE!"

The two senshi turned and spotted Mercury and Jupiter approaching. Mercury's hands were out. Out of nowhere a bubble of water formed around the area. Within the bubble, frost formed on everyone in the area except Danguro and the senshi. The cold quickly sapped the energy of all the combatants. The people began sinking to their knees one by one, each coated in a thick frost. They all knelt in place, shivering and barely conscious. Mercury and Jupiter ran up as their exhausted fellow senshi sagged in relief.

"That's our boy up there, isn't it?" Jupiter demanded. Venus nodded. "Well why haven't you taken him out?"

"If I could, don't you think I would have?" Venus snapped back. The pair were about to go at each other, but Mars interceded.

"Get hold of yourselves," Mars told them. "He influences negative emotions. You have to keep control at all times."

"We'll see what he controls," Jupiter hissed. She disengaged from Mars and whirled on Danguro, who remained levitated unconcerned above them. "JUPITER COCONUT CYCLONE!"

The air was split with a deafening crack of thunder. A bolt of lightning lit up the night sky, while the air around them suddenly smelled of ozone. But Danguro's shield had once more managed to deflect the attack.

However, Jupiter's attack wasn't done. The superheated air began spinning around them, whipping at the senshi's skirts and blowing trees and grass. Ominous clouds formed and swirled overhead. The wind picked up speed until it reached thirty miles per hour, and buffeted Danguro's shield. Another sharp bolt of lightning appeared and lanced through the maelstrom,striking the shield dead center. The thunderclap shook the dwellings surrounding them and the senshi reflexively recoiled.

But Danguro remained unaffected and the attack died.

"How powerful is this guy?" Jupiter murmured. She stared ahead in shock, her anger spent with her attack.

"Off the scale," Mercury said in response. The other three saw her visor was on and her computer was out.

"That much?" Venus asked.

"That LITTLE," Mercury corrected. The others seemed confused. "My analysis shows that his field is actually a dampening field. It's a negative energy construct that absorbs attacks rather than repels them and dissipates the energy into a different vibratory plane of existence."

The others stared at her. Mercury sighed with frustration.

"Much the way rubber or foam absorbs and disperses kinetic energy!" Mercury snapped. She grimaced with embarrassment. "Please forgive me."

"So how do we get through that barrier?" Mars asked. "I think I can take him if I can just get past the barrier."

"I don't think we can," Mercury proclaimed. "I think that's a job for Serenity."

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. The Wages Of Sin

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 9: "The Wages Of Sin"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

"Crystal Palace, Luna speaking," Luna said into her version of the senshi communicator. The call was for Serenity, but the little black cat intercepted it.

"Did something happen to Serenity?" Venus asked on the other end of the communication. Luna could see parts of the heads of the other three senshi behind Venus.

"She's fine," Luna reported. "She's currently occupied. When she began sensing the flow of negative energy through the city and saw the drastic effect it was having on the population, she began radiating positive energy of her own to try to reverse the effects. At the moment, she has much of the city blanketed, but it's quite the overwhelming task. May I be of any assistance?"

"Well, no offense, but we kind of need Serenity," Venus answered.

"Have you discovered something?"

"Yeah, we've got Danguro and he's the source of that energy Serenity's trying to counter. He's radiating it and it's magnifying all the negative emotions in people. Problem is, he's surrounded by a barrier and we can't get to him to stop him. Mercury thinks only Serenity can get through."

"Is there anything I can do?" Endymion interjected. He was looming over Luna's shoulder, peering down into the communicator's picture of Venus. Venus consulted with Mercury.

"Mercury's not sure if you can get through this thing or not, but you're welcomed to take a whack at it," Venus replied. "The more the merrier, I always say. Just keep a tight lid on your emotions. The last think this area needs is you going . . ."

With that, the electrical systems in the palace died

* * *

Sosuke made his way through Naru Park, his anticipation overwhelming any wariness he had for the park at night. Despite the recent unheard of spate of violence in the city, the park still seemed calm and was well enough lit to remain inviting, at least on the pathways. And though his destination would lead him off the pathway, it was of little consequence to Sosuke.

"Kunihiko?" he inquired, looking around the dark trees and bushes for his friend. Moments later a hand popped out from behind a bush and waved. Sosuke hurried over.

"You're early," Kunihiko grinned. The youth, scrawny and bespectacled with an unruly shock of black hair decorating his head, exuded the confidence born of being able to create something that someone else desired.

"So are you!" huffed Sosuke defensively.

"Mom left for work early," the youth shrugged.

Moments later the pair were joined by Touya. Touya was taller than them both, gangly and awkward with timid features and an unsure air about him. His hair was a dark brown and seemed poised to take over his entire head, while a few strands of a moustache and beard struggled to grow on his face. Kunihiko and Sosuke acknowledged his arrival with nods.

"What you got this time?" Touya asked breathlessly. "Is it another one of Keiko Suzuki?"

"Man, you really get off on that woman?" Kunihiko grinned. "She's just another idol."

"She's not just another idol," Touya bristled. Then he sighed. "She's gorgeous."

"Not this time," Kunihiko said.

"How do you do it?" marveled Touya. "The last one was so real!"

"Just articulating and manipulating 3-D images in a computer," Kunihiko shrugged. "It's basic holographic technology downloaded into a portable storage and projection unit. All I need is one 3-D image of someone and I can make them do anything I want."

"So who do you have this time?" Sosuke prodded.

"Take a look," Kunihiko smiled.

He pressed a stud on the device in his hand. Suddenly Queen Serenity appeared before them, just as lifelike as if it were really her. Touya gasped. The hologram had even managed to duplicate the slight silver aura around the queen that gave her the ethereal quality she was famous for. The hologram smiled at them warmly - - and then reached up for the bodice of her off the shoulder gown.

"HEY!" Sosuke snapped, swatting the device from his friend's hand and disengaging the program. "THAT'S MY MOTHER!"

"She's not your real mother," scowled Kunihiko.

"That doesn't matter!" Sosuke fumed. "You don't do her!"

"All right, all right," Kunihiko surrendered. "Funny how you didn't seem to mind when it was Hino-Sensei."

Sosuke could feel himself flushing. He looked away. "That's different."

"Well if you're that in love with her, why don't you ask her out?" chuckled Touya.

"Because she'd probably shoot the little boy down flat," Kunihiko snickered.

"Yeah?" Sosuke retorted. "Well, maybe I will."

"SOSUKE!" The blood of the three youths froze upon hearing the female voice behind them.

"Yoko, what are you doing here?" hissed Sosuke.

"What are you doing out of the palace after dark?" Yoko demanded, her green eyes flaring.

"See ya," Kunihiko said as he backed away. Touya was already in flight.

"Will you go away!" Sosuke fumed at his sister. Undaunted, the girl marched right up to her brother.

"What are you three doing out here?" she demanded. Then she spotted the storage unit on the ground. "And what's this?"

"GIVE ME THAT!" Sosuke cried, lunging at her hand. But Yoko avoided the grab and pressed the activation stud. The hologram of Queen Serenity appeared, suggestively pulling her gown down one arm.

"SOSUKE!" Yoko gasped.

"It's not what you think!" Sosuke snapped. "It's Kunihiko's! He was just showing it to us! I didn't know what was on it!" Angrily the fourteen year old wrestled the storage unit from his sister.

"Sosuke, I can't believe you would have something like THAT!" Yoko raged.

"Like what?"

They both turned and found three young men standing about ten feet away from them. From the looks in their eyes, both Sosuke and Yoko could see that they meant them no good. Sosuke moved in front of Yoko.

"Got something valuable there, kid?" the one in the middle said. He could have been handsome, but there was an aggressive turn to his smirk and an evil glint in his eye. Then he produced a knife from his pocket. "Let's see it."

One of his partners murmured to him, grinning unkindly.

"And let's see the girl, too."

And then all the lights in the park died.

* * *

"Endymion?" Serenity asked uncertainly. She continued to radiate waves of calming energy from atop the balcony of the palace, but her concentration was divided.

"I don't know," he replied. With that, power came back on for the palace, but both Serenity and Endymion could see much of the city was blacked out. "The auxiliary power to the palace has kicked in. Backup power supply should be coming on for hospitals and the CDP."

Endymion moved to a nearby computer station while Artemis worked feverishly on his laptop. Luna moved to the balcony.

"Your Majesty," the black cat said in a low, confident, reassuring tone, "we have the situation in hand. Please concentrate on what you are doing."

"Sorry, Luna," the queen whispered.

"Power grids are down for most of the city," Artemis announced. "Some of the outer districts still have power. Say, aren't they supplied by a separate power station?"

"Yes," Endymion replied. "According to my surveillance drones, there's a person running amok through the power station control room. It looks like one of the workers. He's smashing the control equipment. No telling how long it'll take CDP . . ."

"Go, Endymion," Serenity told him. "I'll be fine. Do what you need to do to protect the city."

Endymion stared at her for a second. Then he nodded and with a swirl of his gray cape was out the window and headed toward the power station via a series of superhuman leaps.

"Artemis, how does the situation in the streets look?" Luna inquired.

"Hold on a minute while I hook into Endymion's observation system," Artemis replied, tapping a few keys. "Things seem to be worse the further you go from the palace. Isolated pockets of looting - - several groups of people engaged in fights - - there's even a dwelling on fire. Whatever's causing this seems to be spreading, too. There are reports coming in from Korea, the Chinese mainland and some of the island republics of increased violence."

"Perhaps I need to confront this person directly," Serenity said. The cats turned to her. She was still shining like a small silver sun, but she had turned to them and they could see the even more intense glow of the silver crystal hovering before her chest.

"Is that a good idea?" questioned Luna. "We don't know the strength of this Danguro person, though his intent is obvious. A direct confrontation might not be the safest thing for you, Your Majesty."

"This isn't working," Serenity countered. "We need to do something. Too many people are being hurt. I've already felt several deaths. Unless you've got a better plan, I need to act now. They can't wait any longer."

Luna sighed in frustration. She appealed silently to Artemis to pull a rabbit out of his hat. The white cat meekly shrugged.

"Very well," Luna nodded glumly. "I'll establish contact with Venus again and get their exact location"

* * *

"What did you do to the lights!" Jupiter demanded as Danguro hovered above the residential neighborhood.

The cadaverous Danguro ignored Jupiter. Instead he continued to exude a dark gray mist and pass his hands over and around the crystal sphere hovering before him. Only Mercury's visor could see that energy was flowing into the sphere as well as out of Danguro.

"ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!" Jupiter snarled and kicked the protective field around him.

"Jupiter," Mercury said in a tone demanding to be obeyed. "Your anger is only feeding him."

"But please do not let that stop you," Danguro said in a deep, resonant voice. He turned to her slightly and smiled an evil leer. "Your anger and your fear is quite tasty. Even now it aids me in spreading chaos, despite the efforts of your queen to stop me."

"To what end, Fujita-San?" Mercury demanded. "What do you hope to accomplish by spreading chaos? Are you merely seeking to feed or is there more to it?"

"I need not explain myself to lower creatures," the hovering shade replied dismissively. "You need only to know that your efforts and those of Serenity cannot stop . . ."

Suddenly he stopped, as if a silent voice called to him. The four senshi tensed for an attack, but instead he began to propel forward on invisible currents. Instantly Mercury and Mars moved to pursue.

"He's on the move, Luna!" Venus reported through her senshi communicator, as she had been in contact with the palace for a few moments now. "Heading northeast. I'll advise you when we've determined a destination." And she joined Jupiter in pursuit.

* * *

"Run back to the palace, Yoko," Sosuke murmured to his adoptive sister. "Hurry!"

"But what about you?" Yoko asked fearfully.

"I'll - - try to hold them off," he answered. When Yoko still didn't move, he said, "Go get Mamoru-Papa!"

Reluctantly, spurred on by the advance of the three youths, Yoko turned and disappeared into the darkness of Naru Park. Sosuke stood his ground nervously as the trio advanced upon him.

"Give it!" the middle youth demanded. Sosuke handed over the storage unit.

"It's just a portable storage unit," sneered the youth on the right. "That's not valuable!"

"Go get the girl," the ringleader replied. "Might as well have some fun."

The youth on the right moved to pursue Yoko. Desperately, Sosuke shifted to intercept him. The first fist came out of nowhere and struck him in the mouth. From that point Sosuke had no point of reference save for a hailstorm of fists raining down upon his face, chest and upper arms. The blows came too quickly for him to react, too quickly for him to dodge. Any defense he was able to mount came too little and too late. A moment of vertigo later and he was on the ground, looking up as his three assailants stood over him, surrounding him on all sides.

"Little boy needs to do what he's told," hissed the ringleader, a murderous glint to his eyes. Out came the knife.

* * *

"NO!" Luna and Artemis heard Serenity shriek. Both cats turned in alarm.

"Your Majesty, what . . .?" Luna began. Heedless of the cat, Queen Serenity climbed up onto the balcony railing and leaped into space. "YOUR MAJESTY!"

Luna was up on top of the railing in a flash. She peered down and saw Serenity gliding along the air currents, held aloft by the power of the silver crystal, headed off to the north. Without hesitation, the black cat turned and scampered back into the room. A bewildered Artemis watched her seize the senshi communicator and push emergency send.

"Yeah, Luna?" Venus barked.

"The Queen has gone off on her own!" Luna shouted frantically. "Something's happened! Something dire! She was quite distraught!"

"Any idea where she went?" Venus asked.

"It looks as if she was headed for Naru Park!"

There was silence from the other end.

"Venus?" Luna prodded.

"Damn, I think that's where Fujita is headed! Luna, see if you can get through to CDP! Ask them to get anybody they can over there! I don't know what's going on, but I think we're going to need all the help we can get!"

As she descended on Naru Park, Queen Serenity was again glowing with the brilliance of a silver jewel. With the bow in her gown resembling wings, she looked like an angel descending from heaven. The glow from the queen and the accompanying realization of what they had done served to scatter the three youths in fear. Sosuke looked up and saw his adoptive mother lower from the sky. Robbed of his voice by anguish, all he could do was raise a hand covered in blood to her in a silent plea for help. Serenity saw this, saw what she already knew had happened, and began weeping in denial. Her white slippers touched the grass and she knelt down to her adoptive child, trying to prevent what had already happened.

But it was too late. Yoko lay bleeding from the knife wound in her abdomen, near death.

"She tried to protect me," sobbed Sosuke, his voice shrill from anguish and rage and sorrow. "She tried to get the knife away from him! I told her to run!"

Dimly Serenity sensed what Sosuke was saying and what he was feeling and she longed to comfort him. But this was more important. Yoko lay before her, moments from death, and the good Queen just could not accept that. Marshaling her concentration, Serenity called the silver crystal forth once more. Cupping it without touching it, Serenity began to pour silver energy into the broken body of what had been the vibrant, inquisitive, impetuous joy of her life. Yoko would not die so young if Serenity could help it. Even if it took her life, Yoko would live again to run and play and dream.

But from behind and over Serenity's left shoulder a hand stabbed out. It seized the silver crystal and jerked it away. Serenity emitted a piercing shriek of such utter agony as had never been witnessed in the annals of time on the island of Japan. The Queen clutched her arms to her chest, screaming in pain, then keeled over backwards and fell limply to the ground before Sosuke's horrified eyes.

"DROP THAT CRYSTAL, FUJITA!" Sailor Jupiter roared with the rage of a wounded lion. "DROP IT OR I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

Contemptuously, the drawn, withered form of Danguro Fujita turned from where it hovered just over Serenity's prone body. He looked at Jupiter, her tiara rod extended and crackling with violent electricity, and then to the others arriving behind her. Mars' hands glowed red with heat, ready to ignite at the merest thought. Venus was crouched and ready to deliver any one of a dozen attacks at the slightest movement from him, while Mercury had her visor down, her computer out and her concentration forced on her enemy and away from Serenity and Yoko. But rather than be angry or intimidated, he merely smiled his skeletal smile at them, his sunken eyes dancing with mischief and his leathery skin drawn tight over protruding teeth and sharp bone.

"I no longer answer to that name," he told them as if lecturing children. "I have ascended to a new level of existence and that identity is in my past. From this point forward, you may know me as - - Death Phantom."

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. Death Phantom

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 10: "Death Phantom"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Dimly Serenity sensed what Sosuke was saying and what he was feeling and she longed to comfort him. But this was more important. Yoko lay before her, moments from death, and the good Queen just could not accept that. Marshaling her concentration, Serenity called the silver crystal forth once more. Cupping it without touching it, Serenity began to pour silver energy into the broken body of what had been the vibrant, inquisitive, impetuous joy of her life. Yoko would not die so young if Serenity could help it. Even if it took her life, Yoko would live again to run and play and dream.

But from behind and over Serenity's left shoulder a hand stabbed out. It seized the silver crystal and jerked it away. Serenity emitted a piercing shriek of such utter agony as had never been witnessed in the annals of time on the island of Japan. The Queen clutched her arms to her chest, screaming in pain, then keeled over backwards and fell limply to the ground before Sosuke's horrified eyes.

"DROP THAT CRYSTAL, FUJITA!" Sailor Jupiter roared with the rage of a wounded lion. "DROP IT OR I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

Contemptuously, the drawn, withered form of Danguro Fujita turned from where it hovered just over Serenity's prone body. He looked at Jupiter, her tiara rod extended and crackling with violent electricity, and then to the others arriving behind her. Mars' hands glowed red with heat, ready to ignite at the merest thought. Venus was crouched and ready to deliver any one of a dozen attacks at the slightest movement from him, while Mercury had her visor down, her computer out and her concentration forced on her enemy and away from Serenity and Yoko. But rather than be angry or intimidated, he merely smiled his skeletal smile at them, his sunken eyes dancing with mischief and his leathery skin drawn tight over protruding teeth and sharp bone.

"I no longer answer to that name," he told them as if lecturing children. "I have ascended to a new level of existence and that identity is in my past. From this point forward, you may know me as - - Death Phantom."

"No," whispered Mercury. Venus and Jupiter heard the whisper and turned slightly, wondering what the team's resident genius had seen or heard or deduced that they hadn't. Out of the corner of their vision, each senshi saw Mercury begin to power up an attack, a look of sudden urgency on her face. Then she held up.

"GIVE IT BACK!" Sosuke screamed as he leaped onto the newly christened Death Phantom before the being could erect his shield again. The fourteen year old grabbed the cadaverous Phantom around the neck and began pounding on him with a savage fury previously unseen in the usually quiet, sensitive youth. "GIVE IT BACK TO USAGI-MAMA! SHE'LL DIE WITHOUT IT! GIVE IT BACK!"

Startled, Death Phantom reeled backwards under the vicious assault of the boy. Venus and Jupiter shifted, trying to get in a shot without hitting Sosuke. Both held back, though, not able to justify risking the boy. Then, to their surprise, Sailor Mars lurched forward and charged the combatants. At first they thought Mars was going to use one of her wards on their adversary. but Venus quickly saw none were in her hand. Then she and Mercury noticed the dark energy gathering at Death Phantom's hands.

As if in slow motion, Sailor Mars leaped at the pair. She grabbed Sosuke around the waist, the boy still flailing away at Death Phantom in righteous fury, and pulled him away with all her strength. Then, in a feat of athleticism no one thought her capable of, Mars twisted in midair just in time to take most of Death Phantom's energy blast in the back. Time seemed to kick back into normal passage. Mars and Sosuke were flung forward, the pair landing hard some thirty feet away. Sosuke moaned and tried to get up. Mars lay still.

"SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter roared, hoping to strike in the moment when the barrier was down. A bolt of electricity jumped to the lightning rod extended from her tiara, then shot out toward Death Phantom with deadly force.

Death Phantom merely reached out and caught it with his empty hand, then dissipated the electricity as he laughed.

"Nothing you can do can harm me now," Death Phantom told them. "With the energy of this silver crystal merged with the wondrous power of my own obsidian crystal, I am now the most powerful entity on the planet - - nay, even the universe!"

"Mercury?" Venus asked, eyeing Death Phantom warily.

"Energy output is off the scale, Venus!" Mercury reported. "Not surprising, I suppose."

"You act like you know this guy!" Jupiter barked. "Let us in on it!"

"Didn't you recognize the name?" Mercury asked, incredulously. "Has it been so long that you've forgotten? Death Phantom was the real name behind the alias of WISEMAN!"

A chill ran down the other senshi.

"An interesting name," Death Phantom chortled. "I'll have to remember that."

Suddenly Mercury's concentration shifted. Venus and Jupiter both knew the reaction well. They readied themselves for the command both knew was coming.

"Use your strongest attack on him! Now!" Mercury shouted. "Mercury Aqua Mirage!"

"Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"

"Rolling Heart Vibration!"

At once three attacks converged on the hovering Death Phantom. A glacier of ice and snow suddenly surrounded the entity, which was then whipped around at gale force while lightning crashed all about him. As the cadaverous horror was buffeted within the confines of the cyclone, a huge heart-shaped mass of golden energy rolled along the ground at terrific speed, barreling straight for him. The mass impacted with Death Phantom and the other attacks and exploded into a shower of golden light. The earth trembled. A deafening clap of thunder rolled across the park and shook the surrounding dwellings. The senshi had to momentarily shield their eyes from the intense light given off.

But when it dissipated, Death Phantom still hovered, his crystal orb in one hand and the silver crystal in the other. He smiled in triumph.

A blast of dark energy struck the three senshi, pulling them off their feet and hurling them backwards. They landed hard on the ground and struggled to get up.

"Led with our aces," Jupiter grimaced as she tried to pull herself up, "and got trumped."

"No, it had an effect," Mercury gasped, struggling to rise. "Look. He's even more withered than before. If he continues to - - expend power at this rate - - effect will be adverse."

"Before or after he kills us?" Venus asked, straining to pull herself off the ground.

Death Phantom didn't move, save to raise his hands over his head. Venus knew it was the killing stroke, while the others suspected it. She dug down deep within herself to get the energy for another attack.

Then Death Phantom reeled, flinching backward as if struck. He struggled to stay aloft, finally succeeding. When he turned back to them, Venus could see what had hit him.

It was a red rose, sticking stem first out of his chest.

King Endymion didn't waste time with posing or on flowery speeches. Perhaps he sensed the time was now to press his attack on Death Phantom. Perhaps he sensed just how bad off his wife was and hurried to restore the silver crystal to her. Four more roses were launched ahead of him. Death Phantom erected a shield and caught them before they could do more damage. Endymion remained undaunted. In midair his uniform changed from a light gray tuxedo to brilliant white armor. He drew a gleaming sword and brought it down on the shield with a savage stroke. The obsidian energy sparked angrily against the sword, then parted. Death Phantom dodged the stroke at the last moment, then fired a blast of energy at Endymion in defense. The blast clipped the King on the shoulder and spun him away.

"Good old Endymion," Venus smiled as she pulled herself together. "Still playing the cavalry."

"Maybe we should help him," suggested Jupiter.

"I don't know," Venus judged. "We might just get in each other's way."

"No!" Mercury exclaimed. "Attack! The more pressure on him, the less likely he'll be able to control all of that power! Remember, only a member of the Royal Line can safely control the silver crystal!"

"That sounds like a plan," Venus nodded with grim satisfaction. She noticed Mercury limping off. "What are you going to do?"

"All I can to keep Serenity alive," Mercury responded. Venus nodded and returned to the fight.

Endymion was holding off Death Phantom's blasts with his cloak while pitching roses at him. Some hit and were clearly wounding their adversary, but Death Phantom was able to evade enough of them to remain in battle shape. Hauling herself to her feet, Jupiter mentally ran through her attacks in search of one that would harm Death Phantom the most without risking Endymion as well. Coconut Cyclone was out. A second passed and Jupiter decided.

"Jupiter!" she hissed, her hand snapping down to her side. "Oak Evolution!"

Electrical bursts began to batter Death Phantom from every side. He howled in rage and tried to force them and Endymion's roses away with his obsidian energy.

Meanwhile, Mercury knelt down next to Serenity. The Queen lay on her back, her breath rapid and shallow, her features twisted up in pain. Both hands were clutched to her chest. Mercury brought her visor back into play.

"Her vitals aren't good," Mercury thought. "She's already nearly comatose. If only there were a place on this uniform to carry a medical kit!" Mercury summoned her computer and ordered a medical team to her location. Then she glanced anxiously back to the battle.

"Rolling Heart Vibration!" Venus called out, standing to one side in order to have a clear shot at her target.

The attack barreled into Death Phantom. He absorbed most of it, but ultimately was rocked by it. Still he stayed aloft. Jupiter again bombarded him with her Oak Evolution attack. Death Phantom cringed back, then let loose a burst of dark energy that Jupiter was unable to evade. Even as she hit the ground, Venus attacked again with Rolling Heart Vibration. Death Phantom absorbed it with some difficulty, then prepared to blast Venus.

"Mercury! Aqua Rhapsody!" the senshi called out, leaving her patient momentarily to launch her attack.

The wave swarmed over Death Phantom, then quick froze him into a glacier of ice. Venus and Endymion used the time to catch their breath and gear up to launch more attacks. Endymion even spared a few moments to help Jupiter to her feet. As expected, fissures began to appear in the glacier. Within seconds it burst apart, dark energy driving through the fissures like wedges. Unwilling to let Death Phantom gain any respite, Endymion swung his sword again and again. Venus followed the volley up with another Rolling Heart Vibration.

"What's it take to put this guy down?" Venus muttered to herself as Death Phantom absorbed all they threw at him and remained steadfastly aloft. Feeling fatigue setting in, the senshi shoved it aside and prepared to launch another attack.

Seeing an opening, Endymion charged and brought his sword down again. Reaching up, Death Phantom was able to erect a barrier at the last moment. The pair stood locked in a test of strength and of will, while Jupiter and Venus prepared to attack again from the flanks.

Then Death Phantom arched backwards, silently screaming in agony. From the hand that held the silver crystal, beams of intense silver light began spraying out through his bony fingers. The energy in his hand continued to build to critical mass, then exploded out. In the second before he was struck by the shockwave from the silver crystal, Endymion saw Death Phantom's remaining flesh being eaten away, leaving only a skeleton bent back in its silent scream of agony. Then he and the senshi were struck and flung back.

Spurring himself to rise, Endymion refocused on the battlefield. The silver crystal hovered in the night sky, radiating silver energy. Beneath it was Death Phantom's skeleton, prone on the ground and unmoving. The King struggled to get to his feet so he could guide the crystal back to save his love before it was too late. He need not have bothered. The crystal glided gently through the air, lowering its altitude until it was directly over Serenity's chest. It pulsed once, then merged with the Queen again. Mercury was watching the entire time.

"Mercury?" Endymion asked.

"Vital signs are stabilizing," Mercury said and Endymion allowed himself to relax. "She's still suffering from shock induced by the trauma of separation from the crystal. She's going to need immediate hospitalization. I've already summoned a med team."

"When are these guys going to learn you don't mess with the silver crystal?" Venus quipped with obvious fatigue.

"How about the others?" Jupiter prodded.

Endymion shuffled past Mercury, drawing the attention of the senshi. Pausing for a moment to stare lovingly at his wife, Endymion then moved past her. He knelt down, scooped up the bloody body of young Yoko, and cradled it to him. Mercury joined him, scanning her with the visor.

"So it looks like we only had one casualty," Venus whispered hoarsely.

"One too many," Jupiter replied bitterly.

"She's still alive!" Mercury proclaimed.

The howl of the medical team sirens overwhelmed the area as they approached. Endymion and Mercury moved to meet them, Mercury's hands on Yoko's abdominal wound to try to stop the bleeding until the med unit could meet them. The remaining senshi gave a silent prayer.

Once Yoko was under the supervision of the medical team, Mercury pried herself away from the unit and staggered over to where Mars and Sosuke lay. She knelt down and scanned both with her visor.

"They both landed pretty hard, and Mars took the brunt of that blast besides," Mercury reported. "They probably should get medical attention as well," and she sighed with relief, "but I don't anticipate these injuries to be life-threatening."

Relieved, Jupiter forced herself up, then glanced around. Venus noticed her growing alarm.

"Lose something?" Venus asked.

"Where's Death Phantom?" Jupiter demanded.

Venus visually scanned the area. Death Phantom's skeleton was gone.

* * *

In the scorching, red-hued cavern far beneath the Earth that was once the home of the enigmatic Talon Umbra, Tenera maintained her lonely vigil. Talon Umbra's familiar had not seen her mistress since Talon Umbra had merged her own essence into the obsidian crystal Tenera had brought to the surface. The caves had been silent since Tenera returned from the Earth's surface and the forced killing of the human doctor. The silence was eerie and oppressive, hinting capriciously of the possibility that she was the last of her kind and she would be doomed to die soon in the caves, alone. But, for lack of instructions from she who was Tenera's mistress,the familiar could do nothing but wait.

She walked the tunnels between caves for it was something to do. Meditation had long since lost any value for her. Movement, even aimless movement, meant one more second gone. It was a sign that she still lived, a sign that was at once blessing and curse. It meant that she might live to see her mistress resurrected, but at the price of continuing alone.

Tenera walked into the cave that contained Talon Umbra's throne carved out of solid rock in the cavern wall. She checked the room obsessively, waiting for some sign that her solitude was ended. Now she received that sign. Talon Umbra sat upon the throne once again, her serpentine beauty garbed in her familiar green silk Chinese dress. Tenera fell to her knees and bowed before her mistress.

"My Mistress," Tenera exhorted. "You have been reborn."

"I have been reborn, Tenera," Talon Umbra smiled with serpentine warmth.

Tenera rose up, but remained on her knees. "And are you whole again, My Mistress? Is your power and glory restored to what once was? Please say yes, I beg of you."

"I am not yet restored," she responded. "Though reborn, I am still weak. But I grow stronger with every act of evil and hatred committed upon the surface and my," then Talon Umbra paused and thought. A thought occurred to her and she smiled. "My priest - - yes, I like that - - my priest shall sow evil and hatred all over the surface and I will grow stronger yet on it."

"And what of the light?" Tenera asked. "Will she not oppose you?"

"She is as wounded as I right now. Her fortunes lie in the strength of her heart."

"Give the word, My Mistress, and I shall weave a web that will lead to the ultimate demise of the light."

"No, Tenera, you have played your part in this game and played it well," Talon Umbra looked up at her with supreme confidence. "At this stage, a heavy-handed move would lose me all that I have gained. Now is the time for patience. The stage has been set. It is up to the players to perform according to their parts. But rest assured, my familiar, that the demise of the light is inevitable."

"I bow to your great wisdom, My Mistress," Tenera replied and she pressed her forehead to the floor of the cavern.

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. For Evil To Flourish

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 11: "For Evil To Flourish"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Rei Hino lay in bed, a computer monitor displayed in holographic form over her in arm's reach. Displayed on it was the stored image of a scroll from the fourth century. The scroll had been found outside of Yokohama in 1927 and preserved in a museum until it was scanned to disk in 2021. A translation was available, but Rei had the translator switched off. She was translating it herself, for ancient writings fascinated her and translating the ancient Japanese into modern Japanese was half the fun. Above her, a vital signs monitor silently displayed her vital medical information.

Tiring of the work, Rei closed the hologram. She flopped her head back on her pillow, which in her opinion was too soft, and exhaled in frustration. An idea crept into her head. Rei examined it, turned it over, found no flaws outweighing the benefits, and seized upon it. She flung away the sheet over her, swung her legs over the side of the exam table, and touched the floor with her bare feet. Her medical unit issue gown rode up her thighs and she was momentarily annoyed. She jerked at it, but it didn't ride down much.

"Going somewhere?" she heard Ami ask. The doctor was framed in the doorway of her recovery unit.

"I thought I'd get a little exercise," Rei replied, then shot Ami a challenging glance. "Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, actually," Ami replied, unfazed by Rei's grouchiness. "I was about to suggest it myself. We can't have your cardio-vascular system atrophying during recovery. Just don't move too suddenly or walk too fast. I don't want you to injure your back again."

"My back is," Rei started to say, then seized up as she tried to rise. The pain was evident on her face, but she kept her balance and forced her way up. ". . . fine."

Ami gave her a fisheye look over her glasses. "Your back suffered a large trauma. You're fortunate it was only ligament sprains, but your entire lumbar region was involved. That's not something you recover from overnight, in spite of modern medical technology or senshi healing factor." She gently took Rei by the elbow and escorted the priest out into the hall. "So was there anyplace in particular you wanted to go?"

Rei glanced at Ami and saw the teasing glint in the doctor's eye. Rei's protectiveness of Serenity was well-known throughout the palace and even Ami wasn't above teasing her about it occasionally.

"How is she?" Rei asked.

Ami sobered. "Still comatose. Physically, she's recovered from the trauma of separating from the crystal. But there's a psychic link between her and the crystal that, frankly, I still don't have any way of understanding or measuring. That's still repairing itself."

Rei nodded.

"I couldn't give you an accurate estimation of how long it will take even under normal circumstances. Factor in that she was already overextended because she was trying to heal little Yoko - - well, I just don't know how long it will be."

"I understand," Rei replied, much more calmly than Ami expected. "You can't force these things."

"Do you have some insight into this?" Ami asked.

"Just peripherally. I understand psychic connections and I understand how traumatic it is when they're disrupted. When she's ready, she'll come back to us."

The pair walked along the hall a little more.

"Is Endymion any better?" Rei asked.

"He's putting up a brave front," Ami replied. "With the continued disintegration of societal laws and mores, Endymion feels he has to be strong for the nation. He visits Serenity when he can." Ami sighed. "But the news about Yoko hit him hard. In my professional opinion, the strain is showing."

"How is she?"

Ami looked ahead grimly. "The knife wound was bad enough, but it could have been treated. Unfortunately, we were all busy fighting Death Phantom and worrying about Serenity. I couldn't get to her in time. She lost so much blood, particularly to her lower extremities."

"Ami, it wasn't your fault," Rei told her. "You're only one person. You can only do so much."

"I'm sure Yoko will find that of little comfort when she learns that she's paralyzed from the waist down," Ami frowned.

"You can treat that, can't you?" Rei asked. "I thought they'd made a breakthrough with cloned spinal nerves."

"It's still experimental, and not guaranteed successful in all patients," Ami warned her. "I've even begun to research some of the groundwork in nano-bot technology that Yui pioneered. She had theories about nano-bot induced synapse regeneration that are still ahead of their time. Of course I could always use prostetics. Though I'm not sure how Serenity will react to that."

Rei nodded. "I'll make her see the light - - even if I have to sit on her. How about Sosuke?"

Ami frowned. "Physically his injuries are healed. Emotionally," and Ami hesitated, choosing her words, "this has opened up some old wounds and possibly inflicted new ones on him."

"How so?"

"Well, Serenity's injury is bringing up old fears of parental abandonment, which are natural in any orphan." Rei nodded sympathetically. "He also has to deal with the permanent injuries to his adoptive sister and the human mind can't always cope with such tragedies." Ami seemed to want to say more. Rei waited. "I also suspect that he may feel some misplaced guilt over the incident. Unfortunately, he won't open up to me, and Endymion and the other senshi are far too busy trying to find and contain Death Phantom."

"Is it bad?"

"Death Phantom? They're doing their best, but he seems to be growing stronger. In just two day's time his influence has spread to the continents. Society seems to crumble a little more each day." Ami looked at her watch. "I have to go. I've got a strategy meeting to attend."

"I'll go, too," Rei said.

"Absolutely not! You're still recovering."

"Ami!"

"No, Rei. You're not ready to fight yet." Ami seemed to get an inspiration. "Although if you're adamant about helping, talk to Sosuke. Perhaps you can sense what's troubling him and help him get past it."

Ami went into her office and sat at her desk. Pulling a miniature cord and plug from her senshi communicator, Ami plugged it into a jack on her computer console. The send codes for Jupiter and Venus were input. While the call was broadcasting, Ami linked her computer with Endymion's, because she knew he was monitoring it as he worked the city.

"Hope this is good news, Ami," Venus said, pausing long enough to stun someone with her Crescent Beam.

"Just discussing strategy," Ami replied. "I've hooked everyone in on conference mode."

"How's Rei doing?" they heard Jupiter ask.

"She's up and around, but it's going to be a day or two before she can return to combat," Ami informed them.

"Hope we're still in the game by then," Venus mused.

"And Serenity?" Jupiter asked.

Ami sighed. "No change."

There was silence on the conference call.

"Have either of you had any luck locating Death Phantom?" Endymion said finally, breaking the silence. "The city-wide monitors haven't picked up anything."

"He must be lying low," Jupiter suggested.

"Or he can cloak himself," Venus added.

"I don't see that as likely," Ami told them as she worked on her computer. "The power expenditure isn't beyond him, but it would hamper his obvious efforts to corrupt the world. My estimation is his single-mindedness would keep him from wasting the energy. Besides, he has no reason to fear us after our last encounter."

"Way to suck the wind out of a girl's sails there, Ami," Venus commented dryly.

"I'm merely stating fact, not predicting the future," the doctor countered. "Are any of you close to the Kanzaki residential development?"

"I am," Endymion volunteered. "Do you have something?"

"Nothing definitive," Ami qualified, "but the heaviest concentration of violence seems to be in that area. If the radiant energy from Death Phantom is more concentrated at its source and disperses as it radiates farther away, logic would indicate that would be where the energy is being radiated from."

"Understood. I'm headed that way," Endymion replied.

"Well I didn't understand a word you said, but I'm willing to buy into it, too," Venus quipped. "I'll swing over there and give Endymion a hand."

"Meet you there, Blondie," Jupiter added.

"Not just yet!" Ami said urgently. "How is your emotional control at the moment?"

"Why? You afraid I'm going to slip over to the dark side?" Venus inquired.

"Death Phantom's energy dissolves the mental inhibitions against negative desires," Ami warned. "It fans anger, jealousy, envy and hatred. You've both suffered incidents where Death Phantom's energy has influenced you. If you're both not in one-hundred percent control of your emotions, it might be better for Endymion if you stay away." There was a pregnant pause. "Forgive me for being blunt, but the situation demands it."

"I hear what you're saying, Ames," Jupiter admitted. "But what about Endymion? Isn't he at risk, too?"

"Endymion and Serenity have demonstrated an ability to resist Death Phantom's influence. I believe it's a factor unique to them. We don't have that factor. I've been feeling a little irritable myself and I have to wonder if it's Death Phantom's influence."

"Because you've 'never' been irritable, right?" Jupiter replied. Ami could hear the teasing tone in the woman's voice and felt herself flushing slightly.

"Just, please be careful," Ami added. "For your own sakes as much as for Endymion's. I'll join you as soon as I can."

"Understood," Venus replied. "Got to sign off now. These roaming charges are going to break me otherwise."

In the Kanzaki district, the streets were littered with debris. Some of the dwellings were dark and dead-looking, either from vandalism or from the inhabitants cowering in fear from the violence of the past two nights. Eden had died a quick and hostile death in this area and the perpetrators were people they had once called neighbor. The air was acrid with smoke from a burned out shell that had once been a CDP hover-car. Occasionally the air would be pierced by a scream of terror, followed by ominous silence.

Just then a figure emerged from one of the dwellings. He was a CDP officer, though his uniform was torn and unkempt. He was dragging a struggling woman by the hair. She fought to get free of his grip while squealing hoarsely in utter fear. The officer reached the middle of the front yard, then boldly flung her down. In fear for her life, the woman looked up at him and saw his shock club raised to use as a bludgeon. And she saw the joy of violence dancing in his eyes. Her life flashed before her as she feared she had breathed her last.

But as the shock club came down, it was blocked and caught by a black walking stick. Both assailant and victim turned and found King Endymion at the other end of the stick. A simple compact rotation of the stick sent the shock club flying. The officer grasped his injured hand, then grunted angrily and charged. Endymion deftly parried the charge, then brought the walking stick down across his head and the officer fell in an awkward heap to the ground. Though he had little time to do it, Endymion still bent down and extended a hand to the woman.

"No!" she shrieked. "Please don't hurt me!"

Surprised, Endymion pulled back. Seizing the opportunity, the woman scurried back into her dwelling as fast as she could.

"Quite lacking in gratitude, wouldn't you say, King Endymion?" a sepulchral voice behind him commented.

Endymion whirled, armed with roses, on the voice. Hovering ten feet off the ground thirty yards behind him was Death Phantom's skeleton. It was in a lotus position, its bony hands continuously waving from side to side of the crystal orb that hovered between them. A fine black energy, barely visible to the human eye, surrounded him and gave him a glow like that of illumination from a black light.

"Yes, I am Death Phantom," the apparition told him. "My contact with the silver crystal merely destroyed the last vestiges of my former human shell. I have been - - born again."

"Then you'll die again," Endymion replied grimly and let fly with the three roses in his right hand.

The roses flew straight and true. Though Death Phantom was surrounded by a barrier, the roses pierced the barrier with little trouble. Each rose struck the skeleton stem first into its sternum and Death Phantom flinched back. The King produced three more and readied to hurl them as well.

But the roses embedded in Death Phantom's chest began to give off a black mist. A closer look told Endymion that they were dissolving. Finally, in a violent puff, the roses disappeared.

"Annoyances," Death Phantom exhaled, already recovering from the assault, "but little more than that."

"Even a giant can die from a thousand bee stings!" Endymion shot back. More roses hurled toward Death Phantom.

"Then it behooves the giant to swat the bee," his adversary replied.

A huge pulse of dark energy exploded out from Death Phantom and shot toward Endymion. Reflexively the monarch drew his cape up as a shield. The energy hammered him. Endymion was hard pressed to stand his ground, but stand it he did. When the pulse dissipated,  
Endymion let his cloak fall away.

"Were I not occupied with corrupting this world into one of hatred and murder, you would not readily survive my onslaught," Death Phantom rumbled.

"I feel what you're trying to do," Endymion crowed confidently. "Your energy can't corrupt me like it does everyone else." The monarch seemed to stand just a little straighter. "She's touched me too deeply and for too many years for me to ever yield to you."

"But you are only one man against the tidal wave," sneered Death Phantom. "Save what you can. You cannot defeat me alone."

"Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!" Sailor Jupiter roared.

"Rolling Heart Vibration!" Sailor Venus joined in the chorus. "By the way, I think you've taken that diet a little too far!"

The attacks came speeding in from either side and met where Death Phantom hovered. The impact shook the area and a deafening clap of thunder exploded overhead and rumbled for miles. But when the energy dissipated, Death Phantom remained unaffected.

"You can't hope to succeed," the apparition said with maddening even-tempered confidence. "Surrender to the inevitable. Your little attempt at Eden is over."

"I disagree!" Endymion said, leaping at the hovering Death Phantom, his armor on and his sword in his hand. Before another blast of obsidian energy could be launched, Endymion swung the sword. Angry sparks jumped off of Death Phantom's shield.

"Humanity has reverted to its natural state," Death Phantom persisted. "All the creatures on this planet are inherently dark. Violence, anger and fear are the building blocks humanity was constructed from."

"Lies!" Endymion spat back, flinging roses in close quarters. Death Phantom just managed to ward them off.

"How difficult a process has it been for you and your mate to build this 'Utopia' of yours?" Death Phantom taunted. "And see how easily it crumbles to the ground with just a subtle nudge from me."

"Twist and manipulate all you want," Endymion responded, hacking at the shield again and again with his sword, "but I have seen the glory humanity can aspire to! I will not allow you to drag humanity back into the mud its ancestors crawled out of!"

Sailor Jupiter stood and watched, ready to assist if needed. She wanted to attack again, but Venus had signaled her to hang back. Reluctantly, she admitted to herself that it made sense. Their attacks had done nothing to Death Phantom. Ami had once again proved prophetic, in that they'd been more of a hindrance to Endymion than a help. A movement on her left drew the senshi's attention, but she found it was only Sailor Mercury.

"Glad you're here," Jupiter smiled weakly. "Maybe you can do something. All I can do is sit here and watch. I've never felt so useless."

"It's not a sin to be over-matched," Mercury said to her, pulling her visor down so she could analyze the energy swirling around the two combatants. "And it isn't always how hard you hit. Sometimes where and when is more important."

Jupiter smiled. One more reason to love this woman.

"Though you cannot destroy me," Death Phantom proclaimed as he warded off blow after blow from Endymion, "you prove to be an annoyance I am no longer willing to tolerate. If I must surrender my growing grip upon this world for a moment in order to deal with you . . ."

"Endymion, move!" Mercury shrieked suddenly.

" . . . then so be it!"

Suddenly the area grew dark as light seemed to be sucked into a massive pulse of energy. It shot out from Death Phantom at terrific speed. Mercury saw Endymion struck by the pulse and pitched backward for sixty feet. Mentally she calculated that the energy output would leave Death Phantom vulnerable for about fourteen seconds. Then the residual shock wave struck her and Jupiter, pitching them off their feet

Elsewhere, an eye opened.

Similarly struck down, Sailor Venus struggled to a sitting position. The blast in England that had nearly ended her career as Sailor V was like being struck with a marshmallow compared to this. She scanned the area, trying to get her bearings and locate her team. Mercury and Jupiter were struggling to rise twenty yards away. Endymion was flat on his back, barely awake. Then Death Phantom levitated over the King.

"You survive? Impressive," he murmured, powering up again. "But you won't survive this."

A second ebony pulse shot out and Venus thought it was the end. Then, before she realized it was there, a second source of energy appeared in the path of the pulse, catching it before it could strike King Endymion. As it held the ebon pulse, the energy elongated, seemed to shimmer brightly against the darkness of the energy it held. Finally something took form within the energy field.

It took only a second, but Queen Serenity suddenly stood between Death Phantom and Endymion, holding his black pulse at bay.

Continued in Chapter 12


	12. Obsidian Times

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 12: "Obsidian Times"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Sosuke lay on the sensory table, distantly hearing the record of his own heartbeat. He was in his own private room in the infirmary in Crystal Tokyo that Dr. Mizuno personally oversaw. Dr. Mizuno had been in twice earlier to see him, but he didn't say much and avoided her gaze. He couldn't look at her. He couldn't look at any of them. Not after what he'd done.

His adoptive sister, Yoko, was in another room in the infirmary, stabbed in an effort to protect him from three assailants. That incident continued to haunt the fourteen year old, for she wouldn't have even been out there if he hadn't succumbed to his own weak soul and been out in Naru Park at that late hour. And for what? To satisfy an urge. To perhaps catch another glimpse, no matter how unreal it might be, of Rei Hino gazing at him with the same yearning he felt for her; to look upon her smooth, sleek body, the pinnacle in his fourteen year old mind of female physical perfection; to hear his desires echoed in her words, even if they were programmed into her. A tear rolled down the boy's cheek. It was his sin. Why should Yoko have to suffer for it? Why?

"Sosuke?" came the soft feminine voice in the dark.

The youth turned, scarcely believing it could be true. When he confirmed that Rei Hino was standing in the doorway, he quickly turned away in fear. He knew of the priest's abilities to sometimes know what you were thinking and a cold dread filled his chest. What if she saw? What if she found out about his feelings? Would she scorn and revile him? Would she get angry? Would she laugh and humiliate him? For after all, what could a fourteen year old boy offer a goddess?

"You're feeling guilty," Rei said, coming over to his side and sitting in a chair, "about what happened. I'm sorry for prying. I can't always help it - - although I don't really need my second sight to see it in your face."

Sosuke remained silent, but his embarrassment at being exposed was evident.

"Sosuke, what happened to Yoko isn't your fault, anymore than the injuries you suffered from the beating you took are her fault," Rei said with a conviction that demanded to be believed. "She was trying to protect you, just as you were trying to protect her. The fault lies with the ones who performed those acts of violence - - and the one who inspired it within them, Death Phantom."

"She shouldn't have even been there," Sosuke muttered.

Rei stayed silent for a moment, but Sosuke felt her gaze on him.

"Because you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be?" Rei asked. Sosuke grew even more tense. "Sosuke, there are big crimes and little crimes. Breaking curfew is wrong, but it doesn't alter your karma enough so you deserved what happened to you both. Unless there's more to it."

The youth wished Rei would just leave, leave him that secret if nothing else.

"Sosuke," Rei said, a slight hoarseness to her voice, "being attracted to someone else is nothing to be ashamed of. Desire is nothing to be ashamed of, either." Stiffly she touched the youth's hand. "As long as you keep in mind that the object of your desire is a person and she may not desire you. You do understand that, don't you?"

"Y-Yes," Sosuke forced himself to respond.

"That's good. I mean what I said. This isn't why all of this happened. The Gods aren't going to punish everyone who lusts in their heart. If they did, there wouldn't be a lot of unpunished people left on the planet. Don't think that what happened to Yoko and to you is a punishment for what you were thinking and feeling. It's not. It's just a random act of violence that happened to touch your life and left us all poorer for it. Life is like that. It can be very arbitrary. The sooner you understand and accept that, the sooner you'll be able to cope with this world."

Sosuke continued to look away.

"As for this girl you're interested in," Rei continued, "whoever she is, don't beat yourself up about what you're feeling. I'm sure she wouldn't be too dismayed by your - - interest, so long as you remember she's a person with feelings and not just the object of your lust. But if you're sure she's not interested - - or if she has strong feelings for someone else - - then maybe it would be better for you to look elsewhere. Believe me, I know that's hard. But in the long run, it may be easier for you to find love elsewhere than to pine for someone you can't have. I'm sure there are a lot of girls who'd die to be with you if you give them the chance."

Timidly, the boy glanced over at the priest. Rei gave him an encouraging smile.

"So, do I know this girl?" Rei chuckled impishly. She patted Sosuke on the shoulder. "Don't answer if you don't want to. I'm just being a nosy old busybody. It's a bad habit I picked up from your mom."

"T-Thank you, Sensei," Sosuke whispered. "I'll think about what you said. And thank you for saving me. Sorry you got hurt doing it."

"It comes with the job," Rei responded. "And it's the least I could do. You were very brave, attacking Death Phantom to try to save your mother. We're all grateful - - and I think Yoko would be proud of you."

Patting the youth on the shoulder, Rei eased out of the chair and walked stiffly out of the room, favoring her back. Once she was outside, though, she sagged against the wall and ran her fingers through her thick black hair. It had taken all her skill and self-control, honed by centuries of being a priest, to keep from revealing that she'd read who Sosuke was infatuated with. Her heart went out to the boy, for she did know what it was like to love someone forever barred from you. But she knew she couldn't love him the way he wanted her to, that such a relationship could only end badly. Plus she had no desire for such a relationship anyway. Rei exhaled deeply. But that didn't make her feel any better.

* * *

"So, Serenity," Death Phantom smiled as he ended his attack. "You've returned."

The Queen was inhaling air as if catching Death Phantom's attack had been an exertion. From afar, Mercury wondered how strong Serenity was, since she'd been comatose the last time the doctor had seen her. But the Queen stood straight and tall, refusing to buckle to her fatigue in the face of the threat to her love, her friends and her city.

"Why are you doing this?" Serenity appealed to him, for reason and compromise were always her first lines of defense.

"I must," the skeletal being replied with a cock of his bony head. He continued to hover fifteen feet from the Queen and five feet off the ground. "I have a sacred task that I must fulfill for she who created me. I must spread chaos and hatred throughout the universe."

"Why?" Serenity asked incredulously.

"It is my reason for being," Death Phantom replied. "As you are the avatar of light and hope, as you sow the seeds of charity and peace through the world and through all you touch in the universe, I am the avatar of darkness and violence. I am your opposite, oh good Queen Serenity. I am yang to your yin. I am your mirror opposite."

"You can't mean that!" Serenity gasped. "Is there no charity in you? You were a man once. You felt joy and desire, pride and contentment. You've just been led astray. Those qualities are still within you, I know it. Let me help you. Let me be your friend and help you find once again the qualities of your humanity that you've lost."

Death Phantom's response was a volley of obsidian energy. The burst struck Serenity directly. The Queen folded into herself, struggling to withstand the debilitating energy, her skirt and her golden tresses billowing out behind her. It was a strain, but she held her ground. When the burst finally ceased, Serenity straightened up with some difficulty while her senshi looked on, helpless to intercede.

"I ceded my humanity," Death Phantom casually replied, the dark sockets of his eyes glowing with twin pricks of light. "I gave it up in exchange for achieving a higher plane of existence, much the way you have."

"You may be more powerful, but you're still human!" Serenity cried. "I'm still human! I'll never lose that! Please don't lose it, either!"

"Humanity is beneath me," Death Phantom countered. "They are nothing but playthings, pawns to generate the dark energy on which I may grow stronger. I no longer claim kinship to them." Death Phantom hovered a little closer to her. "If you oppose me, Serenity, you will die,as will all who align with you."

"It's the obligation of those with power to protect and defend those without," Serenity replied. "I don't want to fight you, but I will not stand by and let you destroy everyone's life."

"Then may the battle be joined," Death Phantom said, his hands passing over and beside the crystal orb before him. "I will show you no mercy."

His aura flared and another obsidian burst shot toward Queen Serenity.

"I will teach you the value of it," Serenity responded. A silver aura rose up from her and met the dark pulse. The area exploded in a blinding flash.

* * *

In another area of the city, Rei Hino crumpled to her knees, grasping her head. For a moment, she wondered if she'd overtaxed her recovery. Then she felt the familiar sensation of Serenity, the woman's mind taxed by violence. Pushing herself to her feet, Rei staggered out of the infirmary to the closest window.

The city was bathed in a blinding flash, buildings white and black relief images with no detail. She knew it was Serenity, knew it from her sight and her affinity with the woman she'd sworn to follow forever. Too, she felt the overwhelming presence of violent, callous evil. It had been a growing sensation for days now, but always as an undercurrent to the normal spiritual signature of everyday life. This, though, was bigger. It was a massive pulse of pure corruption. Rei felt a wave of nausea pass over her, felt her soul shudder.

A loud noise drew her attention. Turning, she saw one of the nurses in the infirmary smashing the computer station with a chair. The chair slammed down on the station again and again, each one more violent than the last. Sparks flew and crystals shattered, motivating the other nurse on duty to flee in surprise and fear. The nurse with the chair only laughed wildly, her expression a picture of frenzied joy and mayhem.

Without thought, Rei produced one of her wards and charged it with the ritual chant. Her cast was true and the ward struck the nurse in the forehead, the sacred paper sticking to the woman's skin. She hovered, frozen in action for a moment, then sank in a heap on the floor.

"What happened to her?" the other nurse marveled in shock.

Rei didn't stop to answer. She was down the corridor and headed for the door, her henshin stick in her hand. As she ran, stiffly and with less speed than the priest was used to, she could hear heated voices in a violent argument. It sounded like Serenity's stepson, Hojo, and Makoto's descendant, Sakura. Rei didn't stop to confirm it.

Serenity needed her. Serenity needed her and she would come, even if all she had to offer was her body as a shield.

* * *

The burst of light dissipated. Death Phantom remained hovering in the air ten feet above the ground.

"You've lost, Queen Serenity," he said calmly, though his voice rattled like death. His skeletal hands continued to wave over and around the crystal orb.

Serenity was on her knees, braced by her arms. Her head drooped. Her trails of golden hair fell along the ground out from her. Endymion was by her side, holding onto her shoulders, but he seemed little stronger than she was.

"And now all of Earth shall know hatred, violence and murder," he told her. His boast was punctuated by the blood-curdling scream of terror from a man somewhere in the darkness. Serenity winced. "It is the end of Eden and the dawn of a thousand years of darkness."

"No," Serenity wheezed, but she seemed far from convincing.

"I shall beat your ploughshares back into swords," Death Phantom continued, "and when this world is exhausted, I shall venture out into the galaxy, then the universe."

"No," Serenity reiterated, more forceful but hardly more powerful.

"You can do nothing to prevent it, Avatar of Light," the skeletal horror said. "Must I kill you to show you the error of your ways?"

"Jupiter," croaked a distant voice, itself showing the ravages of exhaustion, "COCONUT CYCLONE!"

Endymion spread his cloak out to protect Serenity from the effects of Jupiter's attack. The maelstrom of elemental fury engulfed Death Phantom again. However, it was weaker than past failed attempts. The maelstrom died out, showing Death Phantom none the worse for wear.

"Bothersome insect," the skeleton said. He pivoted in the air, the crystal orb pointed at Jupiter. "Die." A blast of obsidian energy discharged.

"Ahh!" cried Serenity as she reached out mentally and caught most of the blast. She recoiled from the impact and didn't see some of the energy strike Jupiter, knocking the senshi down. Mercury scrambled as best she could to Jupiter's side while Endymion propped Serenity up.

"You waste your energy, Serenity," Death Phantom sneered.

"Is," gasped the Queen, "Jupiter all right?"

Endymion risked a glance. Mercury was working on Jupiter feverishly, but his trained doctor's eye noted her actions and posture.

"I think so," he whispered.

"Worry more about yourself, Queen Serenity," Death Phantom warned.

"You won't get the crystal from me," Serenity wheezed. "You won't have my people."

"I already have enough of your people," Death Phantom replied. "How simple it was to tempt them away from your false premise of love and charity. See the lie you've lived for all these years? As for the crystal, I'll not repeat that folly. It's energies may be too strong for me to handle, but it won't be a threat to me if it's buried in your grave!"

Slowly, haltingly, in the face of tremendous odds, Serenity forced herself to her feet. Led by his wife's actions, Endymion struggled to do the same. As her senshi looked on, the Queen faced her adversary once again.

"I won't give in to you," Serenity said, her voice tremulous with pain and emotion. "I can't. Too many people depend on me. Everything I believe in depends on me. I've faced too much over the last four hundred years to see it destroyed. I won't give in."

"Then die," Death Phantom replied, as if she were just one more life.

The crystal orb flared white, then pulsed with black energy. The pulse grew until it throbbed like a thing alive, then shot out at Serenity and Endymion. With Venus and Mercury looking on, the pulse struck the royal couple and engulfed them.

Light seemed to be swallowed up as the pulse surged outward. The area grew pitch black. There was no sound. Instead, to Venus and Mercury it felt like energy passed through them. They both grimaced, doubling over as their bodies were assaulted by the remnants of the energy that engulfed Serenity and Endymion. The urge was there to cry out in pain, for there was a momentary sensation that their inner organs were liquefying. Then the wave passed. Light returned. Venus emitted a shuddering breath, then looked over to where Serenity and Endymion had been.

They weren't there.

"Oh, shit," Venus exclaimed softly.

Mercury had been looking as well. Instantly her visor popped on, hoping to debunk what her eyes told her.

"Were they," Mercury gasped, "vaporized?"

"And thus all who oppose me and my sacred wishes shall perish," proclaimed Death Phantom. He continued to hover above the ground, still waving his bone hands over and around the crystal orb. "Look upon what was your champion, humanity. Look and see the folly of taking arms against Death Phantom."

A white hot rage, unlike any she had ever known before, flooded over Sailor Venus. A faint golden glow began to form around her hands. Experience told her she probably had no chance to survive another attack on Death Phantom. But if it took him with her, she would willingly travel all the way to Hell with her white gloved hands wrapped around his throat.

Perhaps sensing her negative emotions, Death Phantom turned to where the three senshi were crouched. He felt no fear. Neither did he feel anticipation as he had with Serenity. They were insignificant to him, annoyances to be dealt with before spreading his corruption around the world. The crystal orb powered up, ready to strike.

But Death Phantom found Venus and Mercury limping away, Jupiter slung between them. The two senshi sought not battle, it seemed, but only escape.

"Let them go," the Avatar of Darkness murmured to himself. "They are beneath even stepping on at this time."

He turned and extended his arms out from his body. The crystal orb hovered in place and began emitting wave upon wave of obsidian energy, blanketing the city.

"I have a world to corrupt."

Continued in Chapter 13


	13. The Forsaken

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 13: "The Forsaken"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Sailor Mars rushed out of the palace into the night. Though her back was still sore and she didn't run very fast because of it, the senshi had felt Serenity's increasing distress and the mounting aura of evil tainting the city. There was no more time to recuperate. She was needed and she would come.

A brilliant light flared nearly a mile from the palace, momentarily lighting up the night sky. Then light everywhere was sucked away, plunging the city and perhaps the world into total darkness. Sailor Mars stopped. She turned her head, searching the darkness with her mind because her eyes were now useless. The sinister aura was all around her. Hackles rose on the back of her neck. For a moment she contemplated summoning a ward to protect her, but then realized that the aura wasn't concerned with her.

"NO!" she shrieked suddenly as a moment of monumental regret and sadness from Serenity struck her. Mars fell to her knees, in shock, the sensation a body blow to her. She reached out, terrified that she would find no trace of Serenity, that the sensation she'd felt had been Serenity's last thought on Earth.

The darkness dissipated. Mars continued searching, tears bubbling up and streaming down her face. And then, success! It was there! Her head turned to her left, back toward the palace, as she confirmed it was Serenity she was feeling and not her own fervent wishes playing tricks on her. A moment later there was a flash of golden energy. Inside the energy, Endymion held Serenity in his arms, using his cloak and his body as a shield. The couple materialized and sank to the ground. Whipping herself past the pain in her back, Mars ran up to them.

"What happened?" Mars gasped, sinking down onto Serenity's left while Endymion collected himself on her right. Neither seemed very healthy. "Are you all right?"

"Endymion?" Serenity asked breathlessly, fearful to say more lest it incur evil. Once again Mars felt a pang in her heart and once again brushed it aside. The King tried to speak, couldn't, and finally nodded to reassure her.

"What happened?" Mars demanded.

Serenity paused to mentally alert the other senshi where she was and summoned them to her.

"I'm sorry, Rei. I had to do that first," Serenity whispered. She swallowed and gathered what strength she had. "We fought Death Phantom again - - tried to stop him." Emotion gathered at the Queen's eyelids. "We failed."

An explosion rocked the city. They all turned and saw a column of billowing smoke rising up from the north.

"I think that's the central power plant," Endymion wheezed out. Mars could see he was on the verge of exhaustion.

"Death Phantom?" Mars asked.

Endymion shook his head. "He has no reason. He's influencing others to evil and violence. Feeds off of it." Endymion began to shake. "Probably sabotage from some of the workers turned to his evil."

"Endymion, you're hurt!" Serenity cried.

"No more than anyone else," Endymion reassured her. "Transporting us out of the way of that energy blast took all I had."

Serenity reached up. As she caressed her husband's face, her hands took on a silver glow. But after a few moments, Endymion reached up and pulled the hands away.

"No," he told her in a tone expecting to be obeyed. "Save your strength to fight him."

Sensing trouble, the three turned and found a gathering crowd on the outskirts of the palace ground. There were thirty of them, men and women, all with the looks of predators stalking wounded prey. Instantly Sailor Mars got up and stood between the mob and the royal couple.

"Burn it!" shouted someone in the mob. "Burn down the palace!"

"Burn!" echoed another.

"Take the women for yourselves!" another voice bellowed from the safety of anonymity. "Hang the King!"

"Back off!" Mars bellowed back. "NOW!"

"Be nice and we won't kill you, girl!" one of the mob shouted.

"FIRE SOUL!" was Mars' response.

A wave of fire sliced through the mob, splitting it in two. Some of the mob began to disperse in fear, and as the numbers dwindled so did the courage of those who remained. Finally Mars faced three opponents out of the original thirty. She stared them down as her hands continued to crackle with flame. Establishing non-verbally that they were backing down out of disinterest rather than weakness, the three dispersed to commit mayhem elsewhere.

"Don't hurt them, Rei, please," Serenity responded. "They're not responsible."

"I know that!" Mars snapped. "I know they're only influenced by Death Phantom's energy. I know he suppresses the strong elements of a person's character and boosts the weaker aspects like envy and anger. But if it comes down to a choice between them and you, I'm going to pick you every time, no matter what you say. So just be quiet and rest!"

"Yes, ma'am," Serenity grumbled.

Moments later, Venus and Mercury showed up. They were still carrying Jupiter, but she was recovered enough to stumble along on her own. Jupiter was set down near them. Instantly Mercury was at their side, looking the King and Queen over.

"Way to give me heart failure there, you two," Venus quipped.

"Sorry," Serenity offered.

"There wasn't time to warn anyone," Endymion wheezed.

"Well everyone is as well as can be expected, I suppose," Mercury clucked.

"Not to bum everyone out, but look over there," Venus said, nodding everyone's attention to the south. They all saw the southern area of Crystal Tokyo lit up with an unnatural glow.

"Fires," Mars commented. "Must be a dozen blocks."

"Oh, how could everything have collapsed this fast?" wailed Serenity.

"Well, you were holding back the tide with your crystal energy," Venus said. "Once you threw it all against Death Phantom and lost, there wasn't anything left to hold it back." She glanced at the ground. "Guess all you could buy everybody was a few days."

Serenity began to cry pitifully.

"Come on, Serenity," Venus offered. "We'll get 'em. Don't know how just yet . . ."

"No, it's not that," Serenity sniffed. "You don't feel it. You can't. I've felt so many people die in the last hour. Oh, I can't take it!"

"Don't give up, Hon'," they heard Jupiter struggle to say. Mercury went back to her side. "You just have to remember - - we beat him once," Jupiter huffed out, her hand seemingly glued to her reeling head, "and he was a lot stronger then."

"I think you've taken one too many punches there, Champ," Venus quipped.

"No," Mercury said, seized with inspiration. "She's right! This is his first battle against us, but because back in the twentieth century we traveled into the future to fight him, this isn't our first battle with him!" Her thumb went to her mouth as Mercury began to think. "There has to be some advantage to that which we can exploit."

"So how did we beat him last time?" Venus asked.

"Two crystals," replied Mars. "One from the past and one from the future, one wielded by Sailor Moon and one by Chibi-Usa."

Mercury and Venus glanced at each other.

"Hmm," Venus wondered out loud. "Wonder if the kid would be up for a trip?"

"What?" Serenity asked, though Endymion seemed to understand.

"Go into the future and get Chibi-Usa?" Jupiter goggled.

"Why not? It worked once," Venus shrugged.

"Of course she'd have to be in possession somehow of the silver crystal," Mercury reasoned.

"Absolutely not!" Serenity gasped. Everyone looked at her. They were all startled by her vehemence, save for Endymion.

"Serenity?" Venus inquired.

"There is no way I am going to expose a child to a battle with Death Phantom," Serenity stated, aghast, "particularly my daughter!"

"But Serenity," Mercury began to argue.

"NO! Absolutely not!"

"Hon'," Jupiter began.

"She's just a little girl!" Serenity wailed. "And she had such a traumatic experience at his hands already! Besides, she can't control the power of the silver crystal! You don't know what it's like! None of you do!"

"She did it once," Mars reminded her.

"I won't allow it," Serenity said, shaking her head. "I won't!"

Venus looked down, dismayed by what she was thinking. Then she looked Serenity right in the eye.

"Then what do we do, Serenity?" Venus asked. "He's already kicked our butts. We barely got out alive last time. I don't want to expose her to this, either. I liked Chibi-Usa. She was a fun kid. But we have to do something."

Just then the palace shook with a gigantic tremor. Endymion forced himself to his feet, while Mercury began tapping on her computer.

"That felt close," Jupiter whispered.

Suddenly the cats burst from the door of the palace. All eyes turned to them.

"Oh your Majesties, the most horrid news!" Luna exclaimed.

"It's worse?" Venus gaped. "It can't get any worse!"

"As far as I can tell," Artemis began, "in addition to all the looting, killing and mayhem, there seems to be a systematic attempt by some groups to destroy all knowledge and progress."

"How?" Mercury gasped. "What's happened?"

"There's been a series of explosions at tech centers throughout the city, as well as Tokyo University. Libraries are burning all over town. Roving gangs attack and destroy every hover car they see and they've sabotaged all the underground transport tubes. Plus there's a virus spreading through the web destroying the operating system of any computer it contacts. It's as sophisticated as anything I've ever seen and so far it's capable of resisting anti-virus protection and firewalls."

"As if Death Phantom is trying to regress the city into primitive times," speculated Mercury.

"More than just Crystal Tokyo," Luna told her. "I've received reports of this happening as far away as Nairobi, Oslo, Los Angeles and Santiago."

"OK, it's worse," Venus mumbled.

And everyone looked to Serenity.

"I-I'll go," she replied, steeling her nerve. "I'll face him again. I'll find a way to stop him this time!"

Endymion gently grasped her hand. She looked at him, puzzled and just a little frightened.

"You already tried that," Endymion said. "If you face him again, alone, you might not come back this time."

Serenity's eyes misted. "But Endymion," she mewled and he could feel his resistance melting.

"I don't want to put her in danger either," he told her. "She's my daughter, too. But if she's the only way, we have to put aside personal concerns for the good of everyone."

The Queen's head bowed and everyone felt bad for distressing her. Then, silently, she nodded. Serenity rose and glided into the palace through the door. Endymion followed and the others gathered behind him. The Queen led them to the nexus in time and space that led to the pocket dimension housing the Door of Time. Only she and Endymion could pierce the barrier and enter the dimension, so the senshi stuck close to the royal couple. But at the nexus, Sailor Pluto suddenly appeared.

"My Queen," Pluto said, bowing with the utmost respect to Serenity, and then to Endymion. "My King. I know why you have traveled here."

"I'm sorry to impose, Pluto," Serenity said. "I wish there was another way."

Pluto looked down. "I fear you must find another way, My Queen," the angular senshi said with the gravest of tones. "Though it grieves me, I must forbid you from taking your course of action. I cannot permit you to travel into the future and bring Small Lady to this time."

Everyone's eyes popped.

"Sailor Pluto," Endymion said, his tone measured and controlled, but one expecting to be obeyed. "This is not a request."

Pluto's face crumpled like a dagger had been shoved into her back. "Forgive me, Your Majesty," she choked out. "I am a soldier in service to your throne and my loyalty is indisputable. But I have a mission to guard the flow of time itself and to make sure it flows as it is supposed to flow. And that mission supercedes all claims upon me and all vows of fealty I have made. For me to do as you ask would," and Pluto stopped, realizing what she was about to say. She gathered herself. "Would do more harm than good. Ask me no questions, I beg of you, for I may say nothing else."

The senshi stood, staring at her, wanting to demand that she help, yet cowed by her vague, dire prediction. Then Serenity reached out and touched the hand Pluto held her staff with. Pluto dared to look upon the Queen.

"I trust you, Setsuna," Serenity smiled, her gaze of charity swelling Pluto's hidden heart. "You only have our best interests in mind. Forgive us for causing you such distress."

Instantly Pluto sank to one knee. She took Serenity's hand in her free one and pressed her forehead to the back of the Queen's hand.

"You honor me with your forgiveness, My Queen," Pluto said, her voice hoarse with emotion. It was a side of her the other senshi didn't recall ever seeing. "My life is yours and it ever shall be. I thank you for looking upon me with favor."

The senshi rose to her feet, but averted her eyes as she bowed to Endymion.

"Well if you can't bring Chibi-Usa here," Venus ventured, "how about lending us a hand? You weren't too shabby in a fight."

"It is not the time," Pluto replied. She turned to Serenity and smiled. "But when you call upon me, My Queen, know with certainty that I shall answer your call without question and without fail."

And Sailor Pluto faded from sight.

"So now what?" Jupiter asked the question everyone was thinking.

"There's no other choice," Serenity said. Immediately Mars grabbed her by the arm.

"Not yet," Mars told her. Serenity replied with an impatient look. "Give us a little time, Serenity. Maybe the four of us and the cats and Endymion can come up with something. It'll give you a chance to rest up and regain some of your strength."

Serenity hesitated.

"Please!" Mars reiterated.

Serenity seemed torn.

"I know you're grieving over everyone who has died already and you feel a new one every minute. But if you face him now and fail, then everybody dies. Give us a little time. We may lose thousands - - but save billions!"

Serenity grimaced. Then she nodded - - reluctantly.

* * *

Sosuke looked out onto the city from the window near his infirmary room. Various sections of the city were dark from lack of power, while others were lit only by fires that burned randomly. A sense of helplessness swept over the youth. It was a sense that he'd felt all too often during his life, more so recently with the advent of puberty and the strange changes to his body and his environment that he couldn't seem to control. He didn't like what he felt. He was a male and he should be able to control his environment, or else he wasn't a man. His adoptive father controlled his environment. But death and destruction danced through young Sosuke's world and taunted the youth with his impotency.

"Sosuke?" Queen Serenity said softly. Sosuke turned and found her behind him. He noticed again that she wasn't taller than he was anymore, the way she used to be. But she still radiated that aura of gentle acceptance that gave him at least one port in the storm that was his life. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," the youth of few words responded.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit you sooner," she apologized.

"It's all right," he shrugged. "I know you've been kind of busy." For emphasis, he stared back out the window at a city committing suicide.

Her hand came to rest on his shoulder and he almost cried right there. But boys didn't cry.

"Are we going to die?" he asked suddenly, still gazing at the mayhem below. Serenity considered her answer for a moment.

"Not if I can help it," Serenity told him, and he could tell she believed it even if he had trouble. "Your father and your aunts and I are working on a way to stop this. We won't let you down."

Sosuke wanted to believe. If anyone could, his adoptive mother and dad could.

"Why are they doing this?" Sosuke wondered aloud.

"They've given in to temptation," Serenity said. Her hand remained on his shoulder. "We all have our weak moments. It's like when I sneak down to the kitchen in the middle of the night for my fourth piece of Mako-chan's triple layer white cake with her lemon creme frosting. I shouldn't - - but sometimes we give in to an urge."

Sosuke felt himself burning.

"It doesn't mean we're evil," Serenity continued. "We're just weak sometimes - - or we've been led astray by circumstances and we end up doing bad things. There's still a good person inside. I believe there's a good person inside of everybody. All anybody needs to do is find that good person inside them and let it guide them and soon we'll have the society we had before." She glanced at the youth. "That's my job - - to help people find their good person inside of them. And I will do it, with everyone's help. I can count on you, can't I?"

"Yes, Usagi-mama," Sosuke replied resolutely. Serenity hugged him. "Usagi-mama," he said, his voice dropping. "I'm sorry about Yoko."

"I am, too," Serenity said with a quaver in her voice. She hugged her adoptive son just a little tighter. "I probably should get back to your father and the senshi. Are you going to be all right?"

"I'll be all right, Usagi-mama," Sosuke nodded. "And anything you need me to do, you just let me know."

"Thank you," Serenity sighed and kissed him on the cheek.

Sosuke headed back to his infirmary bunk while Serenity glided down the hall. At the end of the hall, she found Mars waiting for her.

"I heard everything you said to him," Mars told her. Serenity noticed a reverent expression on her friend. "On top of everything else you've done to me, after all these years of calling you a ditz, now you have to go and make me into a liar."

A wave of sentimental joy passed over the Queen. Serenity's hand sought out Mars'. Mars clutched it and together the two friends headed for the strategy room.

Continued in Chapter 14


	14. Through Unity There Is Strength

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 14: "Through Unity There Is Strength"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Tatsuo Nagara huddled in the corner of his burned out dwelling in the western residential district of Crystal Tokyo. His knees were to his chest, against the broken section of wooden beam he held as a club. It was a weapon, a weapon against them. Tatsuo listened to the sounds of the night and peered into the darkness for some sign that he'd been discovered, all the while feeling his heart hammer in his chest.

He'd gotten the inspiration of doubling back on his pursuers and hiding in the wreckage of his dwelling. It was the last place they'd look for him, he assumed. But as he sat in the corner of what was left and listened to the sounds of the night, he began to wonder. It was strange. The night had never inspired fear in him before, not even when he was a child. But it was different now. Evil lived in the night now. Evil flourished in the night. And the night cloaked all the evil that preyed upon the weak or unsuspecting. It also preyed on those like him, who had dipped their toe into the pool of evil, only to be sucked into something they were ill-equipped to cope with.

Tatsuo released the club with one hand and ran it through his thinning black hair. If only he hasn't listened to the voice. Sure, he'd admired the Miniaturized Computer Work Station for years, the one that did five times the computing his own Personal Station could do and in only a third of the space. But it had always been beyond his reach. There were family obligations. He had to support his wife and his three children. It wasn't a burden. He loved them all dearly. It was not a huge sacrifice to do without the MCWS that always beckoned seductively to him in the store.

His eyes moistened at the thought of his family.

But the voice had come to him and whispered that he could have what he dreamed of. All he had to do was take it. Who deserved it more: Him, or the store? They had hundreds of them. Why should he do without? And it was so alluring. And when he went to the store and found so many people there already looting the place, the voice just seemed to overwhelm everything he'd known.

He was weak. He knew that now. He'd never considered doing such a thing before, because he'd known it to be wrong. But at that moment it didn't seem to matter that it was wrong. So he, a thirty-two year old respected middle manager in a shipping and export company,ventured in with all the other looters and seized his dream.

And received his due - - that was obvious now. He was no sooner out of the store when he was confronted by the owner of the store. The man took the MCWS right out of his hand. Jealously, Tatsuo shoved the man, a man in his early forties and not unlike him. The man shoved back and in the blink of an eye a fight broke out. That was when Tatsuo's lack of a violent past betrayed him. He quickly fell prey to the other man's anger. It was while the man was beating him that Tatsuo realized that the voice that tempted him into violating the rights of others was gone.

By some miracle Tatsuo managed to get away, but the shop owner pursued him. Tatsuo fled to his home, but the shop owner followed him. He stood outside Tatsuo's dwelling shouting angry curses while his fearful family looked to him and Tatsuo could only avert his eyes in shame. Unexpectedly others began to join the shop owner as night fell. The angry shouts grew in volume and pitch as more people joined the mob. Tatsuo could see some of them were his neighbors, while others were strangers.

Out of nowhere a flaming bottle shattered one of the windows. Tatsuo moved to stamp it out, amid the terrified shrieks of his wife and children. But the mob took the action as a signal. They rushed the dwelling, lobbing rocks through the windows as they set the ornate shrubs around the dwelling ablaze. With the fire prevention equipment of the environmental control computer down due to the blackout, the entire dwelling was quickly engulfed.

Desperately Tatsuo tried to lead his family out the back way. But the mob was waiting for him. When the door opened, they seized Tatsuo and dragged him out. Hands clutched for his family, but his wife managed to get the door closed. Fists rained down on Tatsuo, while the flames grew higher around his dwelling. In a last, animal-like burst of strength, Tatsuo tore away from them and ran, ran for his very life amid the angry howls of the mob and the dying shrieks of his family trapped in their burning dwelling.

Back in reality, Tatsuo held his head in his hand. And all because he grew weak and listened to the voice that tempted him to do wrong. The man was too shattered to realize that the mob was under the influence of the voice as well. All he could do was wonder if he hadn't taken that fatal step, if he hadn't given into temptation, how different things would be.

The scrape of a shoe on broken glass and embers brought Tatsuo to attention. He grasped the makeshift club anxiously and peered into the darkness. Seconds later a man stepped from the inky envelope and into the light. It was the shop keeper.

"Thought you'd gotten away from me, didn't you?" the man hissed. Tatsuo saw the naked, blazing loathing in the man's eyes, saw his expression twisted in hatred beyond all reason, beyond the scope of his single act.

Then he saw the axe.

* * *

Serenity whimpered. She folded into herself, forearms clutched over her chest as she bent her torso to her knees. The tips of her fingers brushed lightly across her temples, as if it hurt to do more. Mars glanced over at her, heart breaking, but silent. She knew Serenity had sensed another death. They came so frequently now that nothing she could say could help, so she turned back to the strategy conference being conducted by Endymion, Mercury and Artemis.

"I still think transportation and exile is the soundest strategy," Artemis maintained.

"And I still maintain that to produce the power expenditure necessary is unlikely while counterbalanced with maintaining a defense against Death Phantom's attacks," Mercury argued.

"But suppose it was," Artemis persisted. "This planet that was recently discovered beyond the orbit of Charon would be the perfect place."

"I doubt it's capable of sustaining life," Mercury scoffed. "Assuming it has an atmosphere, the surface temperature would have to be close to absolute zero. Nothing could survive in such an environment."

"And that's a bad thing how?" Jupiter inquired sullenly.

"I've been getting some peculiar readings from the data Uranus and Neptune sent back when they flew past that planet," Artemis told them. "It's not as cold as you think. The internal core of the planet must be very large and very molten."

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Endymion interjected. "Let's concentrate on stopping Death Phantom first and then decide what to do with him."

Everybody nodded, then looked around.

"I got nothing," Venus shrugged glumly.

They all heard a skirt rustle. Looking around, the group saw Serenity headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Mars demanded.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Serenity sobbed. "We've been at this for - - for I don't know how long anymore! I've felt so many thousands die! And there are hundreds of thousands more all over the world who are alone and afraid! I have to do something! I just can't sit back and let it happen anymore!"

"Serenity," Venus said, solemnly and with all the weight her reputation as the most experienced senshi among them carried, "you can't help anyone if you're dead."

Despondent, Serenity sank to her knees. She fell listlessly against the wall and just stared helplessly.

"Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm with her," Jupiter ventured. "I can't take this sitting around any longer. We've been at this from every angle. The way I see it, our best bet is a frontal assault. We beat him or die trying."

"We tried that once," Mercury stated, "and we were trumped. It's illogical to attempt the same failed stratagem."

"But it's not the same! Mars wasn't with us when we took him on. And before she got hurt, you weren't there. We weren't together." Jupiter's expression suddenly brightened. "Hey, maybe that's it! We combine our powers into Serenity, like we used to do in Sailor Planet Attack!"

Venus and Mars perked up.

"It wouldn't be enough," Mercury reported grimly. "The recorded peak of Sailor Planet Attack isn't enough to match the power level I'm scanning from Death Phantom. If we could somehow devise a means of isolating Death Phantom from the negative psychic energy he seems to feed upon, theoretically it could reduce his power . . ."

"No," Serenity said suddenly. The group saw she was on her feet. Her jaw was set with determination and her eyes focused on a perceived course. "Jupiter's hit on it." Again Serenity headed for the door.

"Serenity, you won't be able to cope with his power, even with Sailor Planet Attack," Mercury persisted.

"No, I'm going to stop him," Serenity said. She paused at the door and looked back at her husband and her friends. "I'm going to call on all of you. Please be ready."

And she disappeared through the open door. The senshi glanced at each other in confusion.

"Do you suppose she has a plan?" Jupiter posed.

"Beats me," Venus smiled, scrambling to her feet. "But no way I'm missing this!"

Endymion and Mars were already to the door. The three others scrambled to catch up.

Sosuke sat in the recovery cubicle of his adoptive sister Yoko. She seemed so still. If her chest didn't move up and down, the youth could very easily believe that she was dead. A shape passed the window of her cubicle. Sosuke looked over at it. He continued to look even after it had passed, hoping against hope that he might see her again.

"What are you staring at?" Yoko asked weakly.

"Usagi-mama," Sosuke told her. "She just flew past the window. She's going to fight the guy that's causing all the trouble."

The two young orphans remained silent.

"Look, Yoko," Sosuke forced himself to say. "I'm sorry for what happened to you."

"I can't feel my legs," Yoko replied, flatly and with little emotion. "Mizuno-sensei says it's permanent."

"I know," Sosuke said, struggling to keep from crying. "I'm sorry."

"Why were you looking at those holograms?" Yoko demanded.

"I . . ." Sosuke began. "They're pretty. They make me feel good - - all except the one he did of Usagi-mama! He had no right to do that!"

"He didn't have any right to do any of them," Yoko charged.

"They're just holos. Nobody got hurt."

The infirmary bed Yoko way laying in made Sosuke realize that statement wasn't quite correct.

"I just . . ." he began again. "I don't see how looking at pictures of someone you think is beautiful - - is bad."

Yoko looked at her brother, looked past her indignation, and saw his confusion and guilt.

"Who is she?" Yoko asked.

"None of your business," he replied. For once, the answer didn't infuriate her as much as it always did. "Look, Yoko," Sosuke said, dragging the words from his soul, "I'd trade places with you in a minute if I could."

The was a beat of silence.

"What makes you think that would make me feel any better?" she asked. Sosuke glanced over and saw she had her eyes averted now.

"Sorry," he offered.

They sat in silence.

"Hey," he said timidly. "How about I sneak down and get you some chocolate ice cream?" The words brought back a memory to Yoko, of her first days in the palace and the off the cuff offer her adoptive older brother named Sosuke made that became her unofficial welcome to the extended family of Serenity and Endymion.

"I don't think the rules allow it," Yoko replied with some melancholy.

"Screw the rules," Sosuke told her. She glanced at him and saw the same look in his eye she'd seen back then.

Yoko smiled. Her big brother was back again.

Ground zero was the center of Crystal Tokyo now. Death Phantom had moved from the residential neighborhood he'd been in and now hovered above the geographic center of the city. From this point, bisected by energy lines from the city's crystal points, his obsidian energy could flow more freely and spread more quickly. From all over the world now images were coming to him: A wife in Sumatra had just stabbed her husband of twelve years thirty-three times; A gang of thieves had looted a church in Ecuador and burned it to the ground; A noted computer engineer in France had just permanently erased every database in western Europe; Systematic fires and looting in Rwanda had left the business districts of the major cities in shambles; In England, Cambridge University burned while angry students and neighbors indulged in a bacchanal; In China, a mob had reduced the Forbidden City to rubble; The fragile twelve year old peace between Sunni and Shiite in the Arabian Coalition States dissolved into bitter fighting in the streets.

And in Lebanon, Kansas, a four year old girl had just beaten her kitten to death with a brick. Death Phantom smiled. Things were going well.

Then a sensation he thought he would never feel again touched his senses. Death Phantom turned and found Queen Serenity gliding toward him.

"Have you come to surrender yourself to me, Queen Serenity?" the glowing skeleton leered at her, his hands cupped around the ever-present crystal orb before him. "Or do you wish me to destroy you and end your misery?"

"I have come to ask you one last time," Serenity replied, resolute but ever open to a solution that was non-confrontational, "to end this."

"You wish me to destroy this wretched world and every insignificant life upon it?"

"I wish you to stop corrupting good, decent people and give their peaceful lives back to them," Serenity responded. Death Phantom noted a new resolve within the Queen.

"I refuse. Your time has passed, Serenity. A new era has dawned upon this world. Earth's final act has rung up its curtain. Humanity will destroy itself in an orgy of wanton violence and chaos and I mean to enjoy every moment."

Endymion and the senshi watched her from a few yards away. Each one was wondering what she planned, how she thought she could succeed this time when she had failed before. But each one stood ready to defend her to the death if need be.

There were no more words from Queen Serenity. Instead, she spread her hands out slightly, closed her eyes and let her head roll back.

"I need you, my friends," she thought and the senshi heard her in their minds.

"Jupiter Power!" Jupiter called out and the jewel in her tiara flared.

"Mars Power!"

"Venus Power!"

"Mercury Power!"

And suddenly, materializing beside them, stood Sailor Pluto.

"Pluto Power!"

Death Phantom cocked his head. He seemed annoyed, but undeterred. The crystal orb began to build with its dark energy. Then it fired.

But the blast did not strike Serenity. Endymion appeared before it, his cloak spread, and took the blast full on. The King struggled to stand up to the blast, weary as he was, and Death Phantom managed to drag a grunt of exertion from him. But he stood his ground and nothing short of his death would keep him from shielding Serenity.

"People of Earth," they all heard her say in their minds. "This is Serenity. Are you tired of being afraid? Are you tired of a life of violence? Have you grown weary of anger and hatred everywhere, of destruction and desolation everywhere you look? Do you yearn again for peace? Lend me your voice, no matter how small, and I will return your peace to you."

"You appeal to that which no longer exists, Queen Serenity," Death Phantom said. "Humanity has made its choice and it chooses the dark path."

"I don't believe that," Serenity continued in her mental appeal to the surviving people of Earth. "You want peace! You want the security of peace and love! I know it!"

"Those who stayed upon the path of light have all been destroyed by those who chose the darkness. You appeal to a faction that is too small to act and is dwindling by the moment."

"You're wrong. There is good in everyone. I know it. I will not be turned from that belief."

"Then you choose death," Death Phantom replied and redoubled his efforts. Endymion groaned loudly.

"If so, then I die," Serenity said. A tear rolled down her cheek. "I wouldn't live in a world where there's no love. But that's not this world. You haven't killed it yet!"

Gently, Serenity touched Endymion's shoulder. She lightly guided him to one side and took Death Phantom's energy head on.

"Don't give in!" Mars shouted to the others. "Keep feeding her!"

"We're with you, Serenity!" Jupiter called out.

"Give him a smack for me!" Venus added.

"You can do it, Serenity!" Mercury yelled. "Believe that you can!"

"You are my Queen and my salvation," Pluto said. "All that I have and all that I am are yours."

Serenity smiled as she felt even more energy flow to her through the Sailor Planet Power connection. Then she felt a hand close around hers. She didn't have to look. It was Endymion and he was glowing gold, funneling his power into her as well.

It was difficult, using only the combined energies of her senshi. Amid the strained grunts of her senshi, Serenity struggled to survive the onslaught, let alone push it back. The obsidian energy battered her, bringing pain to every nerve in her body. It was pain that she couldn't recall ever experiencing - - except perhaps in those moments before she was about to die after destroying Queen Beryl, the moments when she wished upon the silver crystal for everything to be as it was before. She could feel the energy of Endymion and the other senshi in her as she doggedly stood her ground against the assault. She could feel the silver crystal pulsing within her chest. It was all they had. She reached down for more and no more was there.

And it wouldn't be enough.

But as the seconds mounted into minutes, other energy began to flow into her. Some of the "voices" she recognized as Sosuke, Yoko, Sakura, Hojo, and others she knew well. Most of the voices were strangers to her. But they were friends and strangers united by a single belief, either long held or newly arrived at, that peace was preferable to the seductive song of violence that Death Phantom's energy sang.

Observing below the surface, Tenera turned to her mistress. Talon Umbra was occupied at the moment recreating Tygos from her dark energies.

"The herald of the light resists, My Mistress," Tenera reported.

"I am aware of this," Talon Umbra replied, her concentration locked on the reforming body of Tygos.

"I fear, Mistress, that your emissary upon the surface may be defeated," Tenera persisted urgently. With a hint of annoyance, Talon Umbra turned away from the birthing of Tygos and looked at her other familiar.

"Oh ye of little faith," Talon Umbra said. Instantly Tenera bowed in penitence.

Death Phantom's jaw clenched. Serenity's silver aura was growing. In response, he poured more energy into destroying her, but they seemed at stalemate. He didn't understand where her newfound vitality was coming from. Then a subtle shift occurred. Death Phantom's efforts began to weaken against the relentless silver aura. His body began to react to the stress of the gigantic energies he channeled through it. The victory that so short a time ago seemed his had now evaporated.

And Death Phantom for just an instant knew fear.

He fought the onslaught of Serenity's aura. Death Phantom fought with urgency and with a mounting desperation that was not there when this battle began. Fatigue shone brightly on Serenity, on Endymion and on the senshi. But they did not crumble, they did not fall. Relentlessly the silver bore down on Death Phantom until he realized that he could not hold it back and that it was too late to flee. The skeleton shivered as fear overwhelmed him. Then the silver energy enveloped him. He recoiled and plummeted to the ground. There the skeleton lay unmoving. His crystal orb pulsed with energy, but it was weak and no longer a threat. Serenity relaxed and everyone took it as a signal of victory.

"Thank you, my friends," Serenity smiled as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Concluded in Chapter 15


	15. A Foundation For The Future

THE END OF EDEN

Chapter 15: "A Foundation For The Future"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Talon Umbra, in her lair deep under the earth, completed the reformation of her surrogate Tygos. The ebony creature, shaped like a woman, her white eyes and her silver hair the only deviance from her ebon makeup, knelt before her mistress in supplication. Talon Umbra nodded, for it was her due, then gently touched Tygos on the head to bid her rise. She turned to her other surrogate, Tenera, as the creature watched a miniature recreation in mist and smoke of events on the surface.

"My Mistress," Tenera whispered, her voice unwilling to give more sound to the unimaginable. "Your minion upon the Earth - - has failed!"

In the recreation, Death Phantom lay upon the ground, barely conscious and beaten. Standing over him was Queen Serenity, supported by King Endymion and her senshi. Talon Umbra surveyed the scene calmly.

"So he has," was all she said.

"My Mistress!" Tenera exclaimed.

Talon Umbra felt Tygos looking over her left shoulder.

"Send me to the surface, My Mistress!" pleaded Tygos. "I shall succeed where this weakling has failed! I shall crush all who oppose you under my heel!"

"Or send me, My Mistress!" Tenera added urgently. "I shall weave a spell of lies and deceit that will destroy your enemy!"

Talon Umbra reclined upon her throne of volcanic rock. She adjusted the hem on her green silk dress.

"There is no need," she replied.

"But My Mistress!" Tenera persisted.

"You forget yourself," Talon Umbra warned her. Immediately Tenera bowed to the feet of her mistress.

"Forgive me," she asked.

"The most effective web is the most intricate," Talon Umbra informed her subordinates. "Even the simplest web may snare a victim, but what if the first strand is evaded or escaped? I gave Death Phantom all he needed to succeed and was confident in his victory. But there is always the possibility that something will happen that is not planned for and that instance may lead to failure. So I planned for his defeat as well as his victory."

Talon Umbra leaned forward, her serpent's eyes trained on the smoke and mist representation of Queen Serenity. Her hand extended out and hovered above the model of the queen for a moment. Then she brought the hand through the smoke and dissipated it.

"Queen Serenity has emerged victorious," Talon Umbra said. "But her journey toward paradise has taken several steps backward. I as well have regained enough of my previous power and vigor to sustain myself. And the second part of my plan is about to unfold, if I know my adversary correctly." Talon Umbra reclined again on her throne. "Round three in about six hundred years, my saintly foe? Perhaps you will escape me then as well. But your life will be mine. I have sown the seeds of your eventual demise, Queen Serenity. Be it six hundred years or be it more, I am content to wait"

* * *

"Did we get him?" Venus asked. They peered around Serenity at the fallen form of Death Phantom. The skeleton doggedly clutched his crystal orb, but there seemed little life to it.

"Energy reading is," Mercury reported, her visor in place, "point zero nine seven of one percent of what it was. That's remarkable."

"Yes, I can sense it," Mars added. "He's weakened to a shadow of his former self." She turned to Serenity. "What did you do?"

"I was able to surround him in an energy sphere that cut him off from the violence and hatred that he feeds off of," Serenity explained. It was obvious that the entire ordeal was still distasteful to her. "It should also cut his influence off from everybody else."

Something exploded in the background. Everybody flinched and glanced at it.

"Clearly in some cases, the fault lay not in their stars," Mercury commented.

"What she said," Jupiter mumbled. Then she turned to Serenity and looked the Queen straight in the eye. "So what do we do about him? Because I know what I want to do."

"Mako-chan," Serenity groaned, grimacing.

"Hon', don't," Jupiter replied, "please. I know you don't like the idea of killing, but this guy is different."

"He's a person, Mako-chan," argued Serenity. "He has just as much right to live as we do."

"Does he?" Mars asked. "Look around at everything he's done. Think back on every moment you winced in pain because you felt another life snuffed out. They deserved to live just as much as you say he does. Maybe more, because they were just trying to live and love and laugh like any normal person. They're all gone now. And each act that killed them is directly traceable back to him. I know evil when I feel it, Serenity, probably more acutely than anyone else here, even you. That THING is evil and needs to be destroyed."

Serenity only grimaced again, then glanced at Mercury with a silent appeal.

"Intellectually I acknowledge the statistical possibility that anyone can be reformed with the proper motivation," Mercury stated. "But from a medical perspective, a bacterium is alive, too. Yet when that bacterium becomes a threat to human life, the best recourse is to kill it."

Serenity's eyes dropped. Then she glanced at Venus.

"I always stepped on cockroaches," Venus replied solemnly. "Sometimes you have to do things you don't like in order to protect things that are important."

"Wise words," Sailor Pluto chimed in, "and precisely the reason why he must be spared."

They all turned to Pluto in shock.

"Death Phantom, in his guise as Wiseman, has a vital role to play in what is to come," Pluto explained. "You all know this. Were he destroyed on this day, the act would inalterably change both your future and your past, and throw both into chaos. My Queen, I most humbly advise you - - spare him."

It seemed to be what Serenity wanted to hear. She turned to Endymion for confirmation.

Endymion sighed in frustration. "I don't know. Every fiber in me says to destroy him now, while we can. If not for what he's done, for what he's going to do to thirtieth century Crystal Tokyo - - and to our daughter." Serenity winced at the memory and anger flared in the eyes of the senshi. "I'd give anything to spare her that. But what Pluto says is right. We can't do it."

"No, we can't," Serenity nodded. "For all those reasons, and for the simple fact that killing is wrong. I will not be convinced otherwise."

"You're making a mistake," Jupiter argued.

"That's hardly a first for me," Serenity said with a melancholy smile. She glanced at Mercury. "You and Artemis were talking about a planet?"

"It was recently discovered beyond the orbit of the outermost body in the galaxy," Mercury nodded. "It's known as Planetary Body 2861. No one has named it yet."

"And it can sustain life?"

"That seems to be what the data relayed from Haruka and Michiru in their latest deep space communication said. Frankly I don't see how. And it wouldn't be much of an existence. The planet seems barren beyond crude elemental life, bare minimum vegetation . . ."

"Yes, yes, but he won't die?"

"It's a logical place for exile," Mercury sighed. "But how do you plan to get him there?"

"Leave that to me," Serenity said. She glided over to the fallen Death Phantom.

Cupping her hands around her chest, Serenity opened the warp and summoned the silver crystal. Death Phantom seemed to cringe slightly at its light, but otherwise didn't move. Holding the jewel above her head, its energy causing her hair and skirt to ripple from displaced air, Serenity concentrated. The glow from the jewel grew brighter.

"You'll wish you'd killed me," Death Phantom wheezed. "If I live, I will return. I will crush your dreams and take your life."

Serenity could feel the eyes of her senshi burning into the back of her head, but she continued on. The glow around Death Phantom increased until the entire area was illuminated in pure silver.

"I shall forever be your nemesis, Queen Serenity," Death Phantom said. He began to fade from view. "I vow to return. Mark this in your history."

"I know," Serenity whispered as he faded from view, transported through space to Planetary Body 2861, to be known in time as Nemesis. "I still forgive you."

The glow faded. The jewel returned to her chest. And Serenity collapsed, caught as always in the arms of Endymion. The senshi huddled around her as Endymion hoisted her up into his arms.

"Pulse rapid, breathing shallow," Mercury mumbled as she scanned her friend. "She's pushed herself to her limits again. We need to get her home quickly."

Mars silently closed her hand around Mercury's wrist.

"A long rest and a good hot meal should cure her," Mercury reassured her. Then she grinned wryly. "Or I suppose in her case, several dozen good hot meals."

Mars returned the grin with moist eyes and a grateful smile. The anxiety of the others eased as well and they all trudged home.

* * *

Serenity lay in the sensor bunk in the palace infirmary, sleeping peacefully. To one side,Endymion sat and watched. To the other side, gathered like a miniature choir, were her ten current adoptive children, plus several more who had graduated to adulthood, but not from being the child of their beloved "Usagi-Mama".

"Is Usagi-Mama ever going to wake up?" asked Kaorin, a cute little moppet of six with short black hair and big, inquisitive brown eyes. Endymion could feel the unease in the room. It matched his own, despite what his long-atrified medical skills told him.

"Yes," Serenity whispered. Everybody turned to her with an expectant hush and they were rewarded by delicate eyelids parting to reveal sleepy blue eyes. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Kaorin-chan. But you know what an old sleepyhead I am."

To a person, everybody leaned in, touching or hugging Serenity if they could, chattering about their joy or relief. Through the mob, Serenity's hand filtered out and extended toward Endymion. He took it and she gripped it firmly.

"Oh, I'm just so happy!" Serenity beamed. "Everybody's here!"

"Everybody except Yoko-chan," Kaorin said glumly. Endymion noticed the guilty grimace on Sosuke's face. "Usagi-Mama, why did that have to happen to her?"

"Why do bad things happen to anyone?" Serenity asked. She cupped her hand against Kaorin's cheek. "It's part of life. All we can do is just love Yoko that much more and try to make her life as easy as possible."

Outside the recovery room, Makoto peeked in, then smiled and turned to Ami. Ami was, as usual, busy at her desk on her computer.

"Serenity just woke up," she reported to Ami.

"That's good news," Ami replied absently. Makoto could tell that what was on her computer screen wasn't good news.

"What?" she asked, gently nudging Ami.

"I'm," Ami began, her voice distressed, "surveying the damage done to the world. Most broadcast and internet technology is down. I've gleaned what I can from orbital observation satellites." Ami released a frustrated sigh.

"And?"

"I can't believe the level of destruction," Ami said. "Humanity has managed to wipe out over three hundred years of technological progress in a matter of days. Not to mention the regression in behavioral evolution."

"But that was temporary, wasn't it? Now that Death Phantom's influence is gone . . .?"

"Crime and violence is down, yes," Ami nodded. "But initial indications are that levels are still four times what they were before Death Phantom intervened."

"Guess some folks weren't as evolved as everyone thought," Makoto judged. "I know I was having some thoughts during our fight with Death Phantom that I didn't think I was capable of anymore."

"And it's not just that. I'm picking up reports that seem to indicate some of the rampages may not have been random."

"Meaning?"

"I'm seeing a pattern that indicates that intellectuals were specifically targeted and murdered," Ami whispered, haunted by what she was seeing. "Scientists, doctors, educators all have a significantly higher death toll than any other profession. It's as if not only recorded knowledge was targeted, but those who could reinstate that knowledge were as well."

"The less intelligent the population is, the more easily it is to sow fear and hatred," guessed Makoto. Ami nodded sadly.

"And the cause was taken up so readily by some," Ami said forlornly. "I begin to wonder if humanity is capable of evolving into beings of peace and intellect."

Ami felt Makoto's hand on her shoulders, massaging them just the way Makoto knew how. Reflexively the tension evacuated her being.

"We got the genie in the bottle once, Ames," Makoto told her. "We can do it again. All it'll take is a little hard work and patience. I'm not ready to give up on this species just yet."

"Oh, Makoto," Ami sighed, her eyes closed, her glasses perched on her nose and a contented smile on her mouth. "You're an unshakeable optimist. I think that's why I love you."

"And I thought it was because of my cheesecakes," Makoto grinned. Ami's familiar bird twitter laugh sang out as she touched Makoto's hand with hers.

Departing eventually so Ami could get back to work, Makoto ambled back to their quarters in the palace. As she turned into the corridor, she met Sakura along the way. It didn't take much observation to see the woman was upset.

"Sakura?" Makoto inquired. "What's up? Something bad happen?"

"Oh, Grandma Cubed," Sakura said with an air of frustration and finality. Instantly Makoto collected her.

"Come on inside," she told the woman. "I'll get us some tea and you can talk about it."

The tea sat untouched. Makoto looked across the table from her descendant as the woman struggled to find the words to communicate.

"It's Hojo," she finally admitted. "I - - we called the wedding off."

Makoto's hand slithered out and captured Sakura's.

"What happened?"

"I thought I knew him," Sakura said, her lip trembling. "But the last few days - - well, I've seen a side of him . . ." She sighed again. "I'm not sure I can live with that."

"Have you told him yet?"

"Yes. He didn't say it in so many words, but I think he was having the same feelings about me. I've kind of seen a side of me that I didn't know existed - - or didn't want to know."

"Well," Makoto began, and Sakura could once again see the sage matriarch of the Ikegami family who always knew just what to say, "I think you two kids are overreacting to this a little. Love sometimes means tolerating your mate's bad side. Everyone's got one. But if you think you can't do it, it's better to call it off now. It's a lot easier to call off a wedding than to extricate yourself from a marriage. It hurts, but it hurts a whole lot less."

"I just hate disappointing you," moaned Sakura. "And Aunt Serenity - - she was so looking forward to this."

"I'll handle Serenity," Makoto smiled. "Yeah, she'll be disappointed, but a pan of jumbo croissants will take the edge off of that." She clutched Sakura's hand harder. "Sakura, don't give up. This may not be the end. I happen to think you and Hojo really do love each other. When the trauma of what happened dies down, I think you and he will realize that, too."

"How?" Sakura almost sobbed.

"When it gets to the point where you can't live without him anymore," Makoto said with a warm, motherly smile, then winked. "Then you'll know. And if it doesn't happen, there are plenty of other guys out there. Believe me, I speak from long experience."

"Thank you," Sakura whispered, grateful once more that she'd been born into this family. "Is Aunt Serenity going to be all right?"

"Yep," Makoto nodded. "And that means we're all going to be all right"

* * *

Rei Hino walked down the corridor at peace. She had just come from visiting Serenity. The woman was up and about, complaining about being hungry, fussing about the cancelled wedding and fretting over how she could convince a nation, and for that matter a world, that she forgave them and they should forgive themselves. It did her heart good to see Serenity normal. Nothing pleased the priest more. By the end of the visit she'd felt comfortable enough to begin teasing Serenity about her myriad yet loveable bad habits. Serenity had risen to the bait each time - - another sign that the worst was over.

Then a wave of sorrow struck the priest. It wasn't a huge wave, but it was enough to snag her attention. Following the sense of the emotion, Rei found herself in the doorway of Yoko's room. The girl was depressed again about her injuries. Rei sympathized, for it was a blow that anyone would have difficulty handling, let alone an eleven year old girl. Sosuke was there, sitting with his sister. Rei sensed that he still felt guilty about what happened to his sister. She sensed that he still felt guilty about a lot of things.

Uncomfortably the priest withdrew. She managed to get as far as the window at the end of the corridor. Absently she looked out over the still gaping wounds of the city.

"You look like you're dealing with something pretty heavy," Minako's voice murmured. Rei turned and found the blonde senshi had appeared as if out of nowhere. "Guy trouble?"

She said it in jest, as was Minako's way, but in a way she'd hit upon it. Rei glanced over at her and momentarily read the serious intent beneath the carefree mask Minako always wore.

"Come on, let it out. I've got nothing better to do than listen," Minako offered. But Rei hesitated, as usual. Could she trust someone with her feelings? "Hey, it's only fair. Even priests need to talk about their troubles once in a while. Promise I won't laugh - - unless it's really dorky."

For a moment, Rei contemplated stalking away. For another moment, she contemplated smacking Minako right across her smug mouth. Then she relented - - that was Minako's way, too. It wasn't intended as a put-down.

"Have you ever," Rei began, gazing out over the city. Then she dropped her gaze. "Silly question, I guess. You were a popular idol, after all."

"Were?" Minako asked.

"I'm trying to be serious here," bristled Rei.

"And I'm trying to listen. But I have to warn you, I've got an appointment next week."

"OK, OK! There's this - - guy - - and he's - - infatuated with me."

"Is he hot?"

"He's fourteen!"

"Is he hot?"

"I knew I shouldn't have brought this up with YOU!" Rei fumed. She started to leave, but Minako grabbed her arm.

"Hey, relax! I'm just yanking your chain! I have to have some fun." Minako leaned against the wall, serious. "So you've got a fourteen year old who's crushing on you. Believe it or not, I have had that happen more than a few times in my life. You should see some of the fan mail I've gotten over the years. It'd drain the color out of your robes."

"So what did you do?" Rei asked.

"Took it as a compliment - - occasionally an incredibly creepy compliment, but . . ." Minako shrugged. "Hey, how many women are there in the world? And he thinks you're the most beautiful, alluring, sexiest woman in existence. Be flattered, as long as he keeps his distance."

"It's not that simple," Rei murmured.

"Yeah, it never is with you," sighed Minako. "So what is it, someone you work with? The son of a friend? Someone in the palace?"

Rei flinched ever so slightly.

"Sosuke, isn't it?" Minako asked.

"Who told you?" Rei demanded.

"The way he's always staring at you with those puppy-dog eyes? You're probably the only adult in the palace who didn't know. Has he made a move?"

"No," Rei shook her head. "I think he's too scared. I let him know I'm not interested without saying that I know about his crush. It's just . . ."

"Awkward, I know. It'll pass."

The skepticism on the priest was obvious. Minako sighed with frustration.

"Rei, do you remember your first crush?" Minako asked. Rei looked at her curiously. "Do you still feel the same way about him now?"

"Well, no."

"It's the same way with Sosuke. Just ride it out. Don't do anything to encourage him. Don't do anything to hurt him. And a year from now, maybe less, he'll be chasing some girl his own age and you'll be yesterday's news. It's going to be a little awkward for a while, but it'll pass. Just don't do anything to really hurt him, because that could last forever."

The priest mulled the words over while Minako stood by and watched over her.

"I hope you're right," Rei said eventually.

"Of course I'm right!" Minako proclaimed. "After all, which one of us was Sailor V?"

"Just don't let it go to your head," the priest scowled.

"Too late," Minako smirked. "Fastest ego in the west."

That even managed to draw a snicker from Rei.

* * *

Her name was Ai. She was seven years old. She was a chubby little girl with shoulder length black hair and the largest, deepest, most soulful violet eyes imaginable. Everybody always remarked to her mother about her beautiful eyes.

Ai clutched the plush panda to her chest. Memories of her mother made her miss her. It brought the tears to her eyes again and she didn't want to cry. She was tired of crying. The ones that had already formed were blinked away. The girl kept walking down the street.

In spite of her wishes, the bad memories came flooding back, brought on by her recalling her mother. Everything had been idyllic for little Ai. She went to school. She played with her friends. She dreamed of being a wonderful, beautiful and kind queen like Queen Serenity. Then the shadows came.

The neighborhood became a scary place at night. She heard a scream the first night that sounded like her friend, Sana. She heard several screams that night. She heard glass break and thunderous footsteps outside. The next day, Sana wasn't in school.

At about one, the teacher suddenly became angry for no reason. She pounded her fist on the desk, then stood up and began screaming at the class. No one could understand why she was so angry. When she began throwing things at the members of the class, all the children ran out. In the schoolyard, two of the bigger kids in class began beating up one of the boys for no reason. Then several older boys came in. Ai got scared and ran home. She told her mother and her mother told her she didn't have to go to school for a while.

One night the noises outside her house grew louder and angrier. Ai couldn't sleep. She was afraid. But when a loud noise came from downstairs, Ai got out of bed and peeked down the stairs. The shadows had broken down the door. They might have been men, but it was too dark to tell. They seemed like living shadows to Ai. Her father lay in a pool of blood. Three of the shadows were on top of her mother. She was screaming and crying, struggling to get away. Ai didn't know what to do.

Then one of the shadows started for the stairwell. Panicked, Ai scurried to her bedroom and hid under the bed. As she cowered, she heard her mother's anguished screams echo up the stairs. She saw a glimpse of the shadow's foot and pleaded with the gods not to let it find her. Eventually her mother stopped screaming. But Ai stayed under the bed all night.

In the morning she ventured downstairs. The environmental control computer didn't work. Neither did the lights. The heat of early July came through the kicked in door, unabated by the non-functional climate control. There in the center of the living room, Ai found her parents. They didn't move. They only stared up at the ceiling. Ai knew they weren't sleeping because their eyes were open. But they didn't move.

For an undetermined amount of time, Ai sat huddled in a corner of the kitchen, her arms folded over her chest. She sobbed uncontrollably. Smoke filtered into the dwelling from fires in the distance. Occasionally there was an explosion in another part of the city that would be heard or felt. From time to time she heard shouts, some angry, some fearful. It was all background noise to her. For seven year old Ai was realizing that her parents were gone and she was suddenly alone in the world. She didn't want to sit in the corner and cry for the rest of her life, but she didn't know what else to do.

Then she heard a voice. At first she cringed, fearing the shadows had come back for her. Then she realized the voice was kind and gentle. The voice identified itself as Queen Serenity and Ai recognized that she only heard the voice in her mind. It asked her if she was tired of being afraid. If she was, the Queen asked her to lend her power. Ai didn't know what power she might have that the great Queen Serenity could use, but she knew she was tired of being afraid. The girl concentrated as she never had before in her seven years, thinking "yes" over and over. Finally she heard the Queen say "thank you" and she knew she had done something good.

Then she heard nothing.

For the longest time, Ai sat in the kitchen, wondering what had happened and what would become of her. Then she heard the Queen's voice in her mind again. Though Ai didn't understand all of the words the queen used, she understood the message: Things were bad. Lots of people had done bad things and lots more were in a bad way because of it. The city was in ruins and the world wasn't in much better shape. But that was over now. Everyone had to forgive everyone else, as she forgave everyone, and work together to rebuild what they had. Only together could they restore what had been destroyed. She heard Queen Serenity promise to do everything she could to help, but that she needed everyone else to help as well.

When the queen stopped speaking, Ai realized that when she felt Serenity's voice in her mind it was the first time she'd felt secure since the time of the shadows began. With that, the girl pried herself out of the corner. She went upstairs and put on her best dress. Pausing only long enough to pick up her favorite plush bear, Ai walked out of her dwelling and down the street.

Few noticed the little girl walking along the street by herself. They were too wrapped up in their own personal tragedies or their own guilt over what they had descended to. Others were busy heeding the call of the queen and cleaning up. Serenity had been their sovereign and their savior for their entire lives. She symbolized hope to them. For many of the citizens of Crystal Tokyo, if she said it, they believed it. So focused were they that they missed the little girl with the reddened eyes and the haunted stare. If they did notice her at all, it was only to note that she was headed in the general direction of the palace.

That night, the King and Queen were summoned from their dinner by the guard at the front gate. It had been the first dinner young Yoko was able to attend. Despite her injuries, she was strong enough to sit with her adoptive family in her robotic chair. It had been an encouraging sign to Serenity's adopted brood after so much recent tension and heartache. When their surrogate parents were called away, many in the group felt some of the anxiety return. To their surprise, they returned with Endymion carrying young Ai in his arms.

"Children," Serenity addressed them. "I want you to meet Ai. Ai is going to be staying with us from now on. Think of her as your new little sister."

From the background, the inner senshi looked on, beaming with pride. Kaorin bounded out of her chair and ran over to meet the new addition. Ai seemed timid at first, but Kaorin's charm began to put her at ease. Endymion then led her around to meet her new family.

When they got to Sosuke, the boy seemed lost at first to know what to say. He could see Ai's timidness in his presence. He could sense the quiet expectations of his Mamoru-papa and Usagi-mama. He could feel the reproachful glare of Yoko on him, daring him to do the wrong thing. Then he suddenly recalled his own introduction to the family and the words Hojo had said to him.

"Hi. I'm Sosuke," he said as gently as he could. "We all kind of know what you're going through. I know we'll never be your real family - - but we'll be the best family you could hope for from now on."

Ai still looked at him timidly, but he sensed some relief in her posture. As she moved on to Yoko and his glance followed her, Sosuke momentarily locked eyes with Rei. The priest nodded her head in approval. Embarrassed, Sosuke looked away to conceal his pride.

THE END


End file.
